Dragons, Wardens and Warriors - Oh My!
by LuckyFractal
Summary: Never trust strange Gnomes offering Portals. Or so Lanaura, Draenei warrior and Champion of the Frozen Wastes, comes to find out. The hard way. Flung across the Great Dark Beyond to a world known as Thedas, it's up to her and a crazy band of misfits to halt the dark tide threatening to pull all life under it's waves. Never fear! A seven foot tall blue space Warden is here!
1. Oh Light, where am I now?

Never again.

NEVER. AGAIN.

Lanaura rarely took vows. She had only ever done so twice in her life. First, the vow she took upon joining the Alliance to uphold and forward its cause and protect its people in whatever ways she could. The other, never eat day old chicken.

A week bedridden with explosive diarrhoea does that to you.

Now, Lanaura could say without the shadow of a doubt she would be adding a third point to her list.

Never, EVER, take a portal from someone she didn't know.

It had been such a great day too.

* * *

"Looking for Portal to Dalaran! Paying ten gold!" An accented voice called out over the noise of the bustling trade district.

Fittingly, the person the voice belonged to also looked over the rest of the trade district. At seven and a half feet in height it was hard not to. All the other races of the Alliance were just so Light damned _short_.

Lanaura sighed, she'd been at this for an hour. The _one day_ no mages happened to be perusing Stormwind's markets.

Lanaura, Champion of the Frozen Wastes, shook her head in irritation. Lanaura was a Draenei, one of the many races that made up the glorious Alliance. She stood at Seven and a Half feet on two broad hooves. Her skin was an exceptionally pale blue, as opposed to the much darker tones of most of her Race. Not that it was rare or anything but it was rather uncommon, a point Lanaura took a strange pride in.

Her white, slightly glowing, pupil less eyes swept over the market, looking for anyone who looked remotely mage-like. Her very dark, lush lips turned downwards in a small frown. She pushed a strand of her pure white hair back into the bang that nearly covered her left eye. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, leaving two hanging bangs to frame her face. Lanaura took great care of her hair, the single vanity she allowed herself.

As with all Draenei females, she had a horn on each side of her head that curved and swept straight backwards and perpendicular to the ground. She was ever grateful for that particular fact, she had some friends whose horns shot straight out for a foot on each side. They had to turn their heads to get through human doorways much to her amusement.

All of a sudden a thought struck her like a lightning bolt. She slapped a palm to her forehead in exasperation. The trade district was literally next door to the Mage district of the city. If she couldn't find a mage here, she could walk for five minutes and be guaranteed to find one there.

Fortunately, she was spared even that small walk. A loud tapping against her knee drew her attention straight down, into a pair of green eyes.

"You were looking for a portal?"

The fabulously moustachioed Gnome looking back at her had a wide smile on his face, no doubt eager to have his ten gold and go.

Lanaura beamed back at the diminutive magi. "Thank the Light! Someone at last!" She chuckled slightly. With smooth, practiced movements she dropped ten gold pieces into the Gnome's hot little hand for his troubles.

"Fantastic! Now, if you would just stand back I'll work my magic!" The Gnome squeaked enthusiastically.

Lanaura quickly obeyed eager to be on her way at long last. Her twin sister, Telona, was adventuring out of Dalaran, helping the Argent Crusade contain the Scourge remnants left in the frozen north. All in the name of helping the Light or whatever Priest thing she did.

She had to supress a shiver.

Lanaura herself had been one of the first adventurers to hit the blighted beaches of Northrend. Her journey took her from the beautiful Howling Fjord all the way up Icecrown Citadel, where she and her guild had stuck pointy things into the Lich King.

Well, pointy things and fire, green or otherwise. But Lanaura never did much bother with all that magic tripe. She was a Warrior and proud of it. She left it to others to wave spells and chant in those gaudy robes of theirs. Personally, she'd take a finely balanced Axe or two and a good set of plate any day of the week.

But that wasn't today. Today, she was a simple traveler, clad in easy traveling leathers and a heavy, hooded cloak suited to the frigid temperatures of Northrend. Her usual armor, both sets, was resting easy in her enchanted bags, tied to her hip. Her weapons, two large two-handed axes among her other sets, were there as well. Not that she wasn't armed of course. She had a number of knives hidden away on her person, just in case.

The Gnome concentrated, waving his stubby arms around looking appropriately mystical. After a couple seconds he was rewarded as a shimmering portal solidified in front of him.

"_Echada, Mikrei_"

"Excuse me?" The Gnome squeaked, cocking his head.

Realizing what she'd said, Lanaura barked a short laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry. That meant 'Thank you Gnome'."

The Gnome just shook his head. "No bother, you did pay me. Now in you go, I can't maintain this thing forever." He hurried her.

Thanking him again, she stepped through the portal as she had a million times before.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, a male Draenei happened to pass by at just the wrong time. Being as tall as he was, he didn't notice the gnome beneath him, and ended up kicking the Gnome over just as Lanaura entered.

His concentration broken, the portal started slipping away. The Gnome panicked, desperately trying to wrestle the spell back into place.

Whatever he did, it didn't help in the slightest. The portal imploded, knocking back everybody in a ten metre radius of where it had been.

And casting one unfortunate Warrior far across dimensions and space, to a land in a realm which sorely needed her.

* * *

Everything hurt. A lot.

Like a lot, a lot.

Like every part of her had been flayed open, then had had sea water thrown on her kind of hurt.

Like Thok the Bloodthirsty had decided to use her as his personal chew toy. Again.

Needless to say, Lanaura was not a happy camper. Here she had been expecting a quick, easy portal to Dalaran to surprise her sister. Instead here she was. With the pain.

She had enough of her faculties to realize that something had gone wrong with the portal here. Without opening her eyes, she checked out what she could.

Fingers: Check. Arms: Check. Legs: Check. Hooves: Check. Ok good, at least she had all her limbs still attached. Now if only they didn't _hurt so Light damned much_.

It was cold, that much she knew. So she could very well be somewhere off course in Northrend, but Lanaura was pretty sure Portals didn't work like that.

But hey, what would she know, she wasn't a Mage.

Bracing herself, she opened her eyes and pushed herself to her knees.

Ey'up. This most definitely wasn't Northrend.

She was in the middle of a large, circular room. An arching roof above had huge holes missing, and a section of the wall was completely gone as well.

Also, there were the corpses. Lots and Lots of corpses. And the stench was incredible.

"Oh dear. What have I gotten into now?" She questioned no one in particular.

Dead bodies were strewn liberally across the room, rotting and filthy. Groaning, she levered herself to her feet and stumbled over to the nearest one, hoping it wasn't an Alliance race.

Now Lanaura had been a warrior for many years. She had seen and caused death more times than she could count. She had battled everything from simple bandits to the shambling horrors of the Undead Scourge and the terrors the Burning Legion could produce.

So instead of doing what pretty much everyone should have done when coming face to face with a Darkspawn for the first time and unprepared, namely yell and soil their smallclothes, she did not.

Lanaura simply made a noise of disgust at the back of her throat as she inspected the horror.

Monstrous was the only thing that came to mind. Piggy nose, sickly green skin, lots of teeth. Yup, not something to introduce to your mother. This particular one had been nearly bisected by something sharp. It had met a violent end then.

Lanaura still didn't know whether that was a bad thing or not.

So she simply backed away and got a better look at the room she was in. It was at that point she noticed the humungous purple corpse that had been behind her that whole time.

Lanaura whistled in surprise at the giant dead thing. "That's one big mother." She said to herself. Taking a closer look, someone had seemingly shoved a pair of thin, sharp blades into each of it's eye sockets. Now _that_ would have been something to see. This huge thing screaming and roaring and something jumping at it and stabbing it liberally. Love it. She had to say, it looked a bit like an Ogre. So she was going to call it that from now on.

The room having exhausted its information capacity Lanaura shuffled over to the large hole in the wall, intent on getting some lay of the land.

The sight that lay before her very nearly made the hardened warrior vomit.

The tower she was at the very top of was in fact just one part of a massive, ruined fortress. From her perch atop the tower she could see for miles, including everything in the valley below. Snow blanketed most of the forest beyond the valley, and here and there inside it. Most had yet to be covered, however.

Much to her dismay.

Bodies were strewn everywhere, rotting in the cold air. The fortress had been the sight of a massive battle, between whom, Lanaura still could not say. She hazarded a guess at these monsters against someone. She couldn't picture the creatures allying with anything not of their kind.

That wasn't the worst part, however. A large portion of the bodies were torn limb from limb, ripped apart, and what looked like _eaten._

She was rather vividly reminded of the utter devastation at the Wrathgate, after the undead had rained the new Plague over the joined Horde and Alliance forces.

Thousands had died that day, including one of the Alliances greatest, Bolvar Fordragon.

It had been one the worst things she had ever had to witness in her life. This ranked very close, however.

Her normally smiling mouth set itself in a grim line. She would have to go down there, and gather what information she could.

Where in the name of the Naaru she was, and what was going on, were the two most pressing concerns.

She reached down to her belt and rubbed a small stone attached to it. She concentrated and after a second and a huge burst of smoke she sat astride her personal favourite mount.

The green Proto-Drake roared as it appeared, clearly happy to be out in the world again.

Lanaura sighed in relief. Despite being nowhere she could recognize she still had access to her mounts. Pocket dimension mount storage was one of the greatest things ever.

Taking a second to wrap herself tighter in her thick cloak to ward off the cold, she snapped the reigns.

The Proto-drake launched itself into the cold air, gliding easily down to the valley floor below.

After a minute, the drake landed with a large thump. Lanaura slipped from the saddle with a grunt of pain, still feeling the effects of whatever the portal did to her.

Instead of dismissing her Drake, she ducked under the huge wing and walked around to its massive jaw.

"Who's a good little drakey. You are, aren't you Sweetie? Yes you are, yes you are!" She cooed at her favourite mount, scratching the underside of its jaw with both hands.

The drake growled in appreciation, it's tiny little arms wiggling in glee.

Now most people she knew had a Proto-Drake of some form or another. Blue, violet, bronze, red, green, a whole buncha colours. Most had named them tough, scary names like Charger, Flash, Craggy, Tank, Thunder or Fire Face.

Lanaura had named hers Sweetie. Take that for what it's worth.

Lanaura trailed off with her baby talk, settling for just looking at her trusty mount, a small smile on her lips and an uncharacteristic sadness in her eyes. Wherever she was, she still had her mounts. That was a massive relief. She didn't have to hoof it everywhere.

Turning away, she started investigating bodies.

Amongst them, she found Humans.

That answered one question at least. Humans and these monsters had battled here. Unfortunately, judging by the fact that the corpses still lay where they fell, torn and sliced apart, it seemed that the creatures had won.

Humans, like all civilized creatures, buried or burned their dead. After a battle they honored the losses and moved on. Even their enemies never just left them to rot.

It was easy to see what side of this particular war she would rather be on.

None of the human corpses she found had any heraldry, or wore any uniform that Lanaura could recognize. Dark Iron chainmail and Steel swords seemed to be the prevailing trait, differing crests here and there but simply nothing Lanaura had ever seen before.

They were humans, yes. But not any humans she knew. These were not Alliance men and women. This was rather concerning.

Another hour moving through the fortress had yielded nothing more of note save more and more desecrated corpses. The creatures that had survived had moved on. However, on some of the upper platforms she had found bodies that were freshly slain, less than a couple days old at most. Either the creatures had been infighting, or someone had been there quite recently.

But they were gone now. The only things Lanaura had for company were her drake, and the ghosts of this place.

The sun was low in the sky as she returned to where she had left her mount. With the dropping of the sun, the temperature followed suit. It did make for the rather funny sight of her Drake blowing massive plumes of steam with every breath.

She rubbed a spot behind the Drake's ear affectionately. "Well, I don't think we're in Azeroth any more Sweetie." She said.

Sweetie only growled slightly. She didn't understand words, but she could pick up emotions and scents. Her master was bothered, not nearly her usual self. So she settled on bumping her lightly with her head.

Lanaura giggled in response to her Drake's attempt at cheering her up. "Yea, I know. I'll be fine when we get away from here. Which we should probably do nowish come to think of it."

Lanaura quickly mounted up and with a great roar Sweetie launched herself into the air on furious beats of her powerful wings. As far away as they could get from that accursed ruin.

* * *

They flew for a few miles over blackened forests high above the treetops, Lanaura straining her eyes for somewhere to land and rest for the night. A village, a fort, a clearing, Something.

After a few more miles, Lanaura ran out of forest. The good news? She had found a village. So that was a thing.

The bad news? It had been utterly destroyed. She made Sweetie circle the town, gathering what info she could from the sky. What she did find was not good. Bloated and carved apart corpses littered the ground, building had been burned to the ground with nothing but their foundations showing.

One building, the one that seemed to be the biggest one in the village, had survived being put to the torch. If Lanaura had to guess, this would be their place of worship. It would not have been spared. The creatures would have broken in and slaughtered whatever they found inside.

No matter how hardened a person could get, a sight like that just wasn't something anyone wanted to see.

Then, something unexpected caught her eye in the dying light of the day. Was that… Smoke?

It was! And it wasn't a huge plume of smoke either, which would be an indication of a raging blaze or an off season forest fire. No, this was a small, controlled fire, which could only mean one thing.

People! Live, not dead, hopefully not monsters people!

Her sprits greatly lifted, she turned Sweetie into a bank, flying directly towards the trailing plume of smoke, intent on answers.

Now, how would she do this. She could find a clearing nearby and land Sweetie there, so as not to startle whoever she met with massive amounts of sharp looking drake.

Or she could land right in the middle of the camp, drake or no drake.

As always, Lanaura took the more fun option.

* * *

Andraste's flaming snatch she was tired.

But then again, so would you be if you had the month she'd had.

Kallian Tabris, elf of Denerim's Alienage and as of one month ago, Grey Warden, was not a happy camper.

It was hard to believe it had been only a month since she had been taken from her own arranged wedding, killed an Arl's son, been arrested for killing said Arl's son, and conscripted into the Wardens. All in the space of a single day.

Then, not a week later, the King had been betrayed at Ostagar, and he, his army nearly every Grey Warden in Ferelden had been slain by the foul Darkspawn. Leaving only herself and Alistair to overthrow the traitorous Teyrn Logain, gather the armies of Dwarves, Mages and Elves… Oh and stop a Blight.

Just an easy Sunday morning right?

And to top it all off, somehow she had found herself _in charge!_ The Senior Grey Warden (not that that said much mind you) was Alistair, but he had shown himself utterly unwilling to take the roll himself. And so it had fallen to her.

So now she had to juggle the personalities of the ragtag band she led. A cynical and sarcastic apostate mage by the name of Morrigan, a massive and opinionated Qunari they called Sten, a lay-sister of the Chantry with a set of rather unusual skills for a woman of the cloth named Leliana, a wise old Senior Enchanter named Wynne, an introverted, depressive circle mage with a staggering talent with Ice magic named Elsa Amell and the wisecracking, bumbling Senior Warden himself, Alistair.

As if sensing her very thoughts and not liking being left out, a sharp bark rang out beside her.

Oh yes, and who could forget her new Mabari war hound, Muffins.

Even she didn't know why she named him Muffins. Must have thought it was funny at the time.

Muffins barked happily. "Hm. Glad you're happy with it at least." She mumbled, scratching her dog's ear.

Muffins whined in contentment and shuffled closer, learning up against her so as to facilitate easier scratching.

Kallian laughed at her dog's antics. He was just about the only consistently optimistic part of their group there was, and it was a joy having him around.

The Elf woman had the same red hair as he cousin, worn short. She swept her green eyes over the camp, checking in with her "merry band".

Alistair was fairly close by, tending to the main fire. Leliana and Wynne were chatting around on the fire's other side. Morrigan was a little way away, her own tent set up by her own personal fire. Sten was just inside the firelight, watching over everyone and everything in the rapidly dimming light. Bodan Ferric and his simple son Sandal were away a bit from the rest of the camp, preparing to sleep in their cart. Elsa, the mage they recruited in the Circle Tower, had already retired to her tent.

Kallian sighed anew. That one was a challenge.

After Ostagar, Morrigan, Alistair and herself had gone to Lothering to try and find as much supplies as they could.

They left with a few tents, some food and two new companions. A convicted murderer and a mysterious Lay-Sister that Kallian hadn't quite decided wasn't crazy, but companions nonetheless. The Wardens, all two of them, needed allies. They couldn't afford to be picky, and Kallian understood that.

Fortunately, it had worked out well. Sten was a beast with a two handed anything in his hands and Leliana was like nothing the City Elf had ever seen with a bow. They pulled their weight, that much could not be denied.

They had journeyed first of all to the Mage's Tower, hoping to cash in the first of the Treaties they had in their possession. What they found was a tower filled to the brim with Abominations and a Templar force just waiting for the paperwork so they could slaughter every mage in the building.

The Warden just couldn't let that happen. So she and her group had gone in and cleared the tower themselves.

There they found Wynne, three other mages, and a group of small children holding out against the Demons.

Wynne, who had been holding up a barrier between that room and the rest of the tower, had insisted on coming along to help, to which Kallian had readily agreed. She knew the layout of the building, not to mention she was a Healer.

They had progressed up a few more floors, fighting demons the whole way, until they happened to stumble across a scene that Kallian still couldn't believe.

A human woman, staff in hand, was desperately defending herself; successfully she had to admit, against a score of demons single handed. She had been throwing Ice magic around like she was born wielding it, slamming, crushing and freezing all she thought to.

The party had immediately rushed to her aid, slamming like a hammer into the demon's rear.

Within moments the fight was over, leaving the young human and the Warden's party as the only things standing.

It was then Kallian had gotten her first real look at the exceptionally powerful mage. She was younger than she had expected, looking to be around twenty at the most. Her Circle robes hung loosely on her thin frame in rather fitting colours of pale and sky blue. She wore her absolutely beautiful blonde hair in a wild, windswept braid over her left shoulder, gathered at the bottom with a small snowflake tie. Add an exceptionally pale complexion, high cheek bones and a naturally beautiful face and you had one stunning woman.

Wynne had been ecstatic another mage had survived and made hasty introductions. This was great, because Elsa had seemed to be totally disinclined to do it herself. When she did speak, it was in quiet, short sentences.

But that sheer power and the amazing skill that Elsa had shown with her magic was something to keep notice of. She may make a valuable addition to their group.

They had continued on, all nearly died to a sloth demon, killed the Abomination in control of it all, saved the Senior Enchanter and won the day.

Senior Enchanter Irving had managed to convince the leader of the Templars, Greigor, that everything was now all right. Which was great really. Kallian didn't want to get killed by Templars if she could help it.

Kallian had had an idea at the back of her head ever since the moment she had witnessed Elsa in battle. After a short, heated discussion with Alistair, they'd both made a very hard decision.

Pulling Irving, Greigor and Elsa aside, they dropped the bomb.

"We, that is to say the Grey Wardens, wish to offer you a place in our ranks, Elsa." Alistair had said, as full of cheer as he always was.

Three pairs of eyes had widened rather comically. "Absolutely not!" Greigor had immediately yelled.

"Greigor…" Irving had sighed. "If the Wardens want her, then you have no right to say no. And you know it. But neither of our opinions matter. Elsa, child. What do you think?"

Just looking at Elsa at that moment, it was quite easy to tell just what Elsa's idea was. She was utterly terrified of the whole concept. "But I… I can't! I only had my H-Harrowing a few months ago; I can't l-l-leave yet! Or even ever! I can't go with you!" She had cried.

Now, shock at the rather sudden offer, Kallian could understand. Outright refusal she could understand.

But fear?

Sadly, despite how nicely everyone was putting it, Elsa really didn't have a choice.

"I'm sorry Elsa. But I'm afraid you don't really have a say." Kallian had gently admitted. "We have seen how you can fight. We believe you would make a fine Grey Warden. And we have a Blight on our hands. We can't afford sentiment during a Blight. We would much prefer it if you would join voluntarily, but you would be far from the first Warden recruited against their wishes. If you say no, we will invoke the Right of Conscription and drag you kicking and screaming away if we must."

Elsa had been stunned for a couple seconds. After that she looked like she was hyperventilating and on the verge of tears.

"You.. You don't understand! I'm a danger to everyone! If I go with you I'll just hurt you in the end! I'm _dangerous! _Can't you see? I need to be here, where people can keep me from hurting anyone! I can't go with you! Please!" She had pleaded with them.

Kallian and Alistair had only looked away sadly. Grey Wardens were needed, and she had been chosen. That was really that.

Fortunately, they didn't have to invoke the Right after all. The motherly Wynne had come to the rescue. She wrapped soothing hands around Elsa's shoulders, whispering reassurances to the panicked mage.

"It's all right child. I will be there with you. You can keep up your studies on the road." She had said.

"If you wouldn't mind, Irving?" She continued.

"You wish to accompany the Wardens? I thought you might. Very well Wynne, I give you leave. I hope, for all of us, you succeed." He had said.

Greigor simply made a noise of disgust and stormed off to yell at someone.

They'd made their departure not long afterwards. Elsa had not deigned it necessary to say goodbye to more than the Senior Enchanter himself and a survivor they had found in the storeroom, a young Elf girl named Niera, and had quickly gathered what little she owned.

In the week and a half since they had left Lake Calenhad Elsa had spoken maybe five words to anyone other than Wynne. Kallian fully intended to plumb the motherly woman for information about their latest recruit.

Without context, Kallian could make neither heads nor tails of Elsa's little corner of the Sloth Demon's realm. It had been remarkably similar to Alistair's. Just Elsa and her Mother, Father and sister. Something bad had happened to them was what Kallian had guessed. Something that had made her believe she was truly a danger to the people around her.

What exactly happened, and why it had affected her so strongly, were two questions Kallian both wanted and at the same time sorely did not want to find out.

The group had settled on trying to find the Dalish next. The southern fortifications were holding for the time being the last they knew. The Brecillian Forest would soon be overrun however and the Dalish may very well move on before they could find them. Getting to the clans before that happened was vital.

That was the plan at least. A couple of miles into the forest they had come across a group of armed men surrounding a ragged, thin and terrified looking man. Kallian had been shocked; it was one of King Calian's honour guards from Ostagar!

Before they could step in, to try to _do _something, the man had been run through and left for dead. His killers had been dealt with in rather comically short order with a few long range spells and a couple arrows.

The man told them about the key to the Royal Arms Chest he had hidden at Ostagar, and promptly kinda died.

In all honesty, Kallian's first instinct had been to sod the whole idea and continue on what they were doing. What exactly did they need a fancy sword, some letters between the Orlesian empress and a dead man and a whole lot of bad memories for?

Then Alistair had pulled her aside and explained exactly why they would be going back.

Alistair knew exactly how the Joining ritual worked and what they needed. Said he'd overheard some of the older wardens discussing it at Ostagar. Fresh Darkspawn blood, not exactly hard to come by these days, and a single drop of preserved blood from an Archdemon.

Fereldan's entire stock was in a chest, buried underneath the Grey Warden tent. If they wanted Elsa to take the Joining, which they did, they would have to go get it.

So they did.

A few days, a lot of dead Darkspawn and a brief cremation later here they were. Just outside of the ruined town of Lothering.

They planned on completing the Joining ceremony later on that night. They had the blood they needed, the Joining chalice and a prospective recruit that Kallian _desperately_ wanted to survive.

Then a madwoman dropped from the sky into the middle of their camp, riding a _DRAGON_ of all things and everything had gone straight to the Void.


	2. Watch for falling Drakes

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**  
Why hello there everybody! I really should have introduced myself in the _first_ chapter, but hey. Fight the system.

I of course go by Lucky Fractal, and this is my story. First story on , so that's a thing. I hope to continue to entertain any who may find their way here. Here's to a long and strange road ahead!

Also, any and All Draenei language in this fic will be based on the amazing Eidthi's RP language, which can be found at wow/en/forum/topic/7199640839. Have a look, it's amazing!

**Reviewers:**

**Novice: **My first ever reviewer! I hope to deliver a decent DA-WoW crossover as much as you want to read one.

**Great Northern One: **Fine then! I will! :P

**Takao-kun:**Oh my _goodness_ I forgot her tail. Seems like a fairly... Important detail. Wont be forgetting that again!  
I also hadn't considered the Desire Deamon thing, but i can so see it now. And yea, I cant wait to start Zevran. Oh the flirting.

**Wertheren: **Good to know! You might want to know now. I Love cliffhangers. They're soo much fun!

**Etheral-23: **Thanks! Hope I hold your interest!

* * *

Land in the middle of the clearing it was!

Lanaura urged Sweetie into a dive directly above the camp, the twilight hiding any shadow she would have otherwise made. Sweetie tucked her leathery wings and dropped, plunging like a falcon directly towards the open ground near the middle of the clearing.

At the very last moment Sweetie spread her arms wide, pulling up from the death defying dive. They slowed _just_ enough to slam down into the middle of the camp without injury, but making a hell of a thud.

They'd practiced that trick. It was always fun to see Gnomes jump their entire height in the air when startled.

All the previous times they'd done it people had laughed it off; maybe shot them an exasperated glare or two. But all would be forgiven for the joke it was.

Lanaura had to admit looking back that maybe dropping a particularly scaly looking drake into an unknown camp in an unknown world maybe, kinda… wasn't the best idea.

Maybe.

As they slammed down hard on the slightly soggy earth Sweetie let loose a massive roar, just like she'd been taught to. Lanaura caught sight of one of the new group's faces, this one a male human. His expression was utter shock. He had tried to jump to his feet only to stumble and fall on his back.

Hilarious.

Lanaura laughed loud and maniacally. Ah, there truly was nothing like a good prank.

But, all good things must come to an end. She patted Sweetie's back to let her know the joke was over.

She swung her head around, getting a picture of the whole camp. Buncha humans, a particularly short high elf and was that a pair of dwarves? Excellent!

"Khronokai Khry-SWORD!"

Her race's typical greeting not even off her tongue when she spotted a truly gigantic human lookin bastard about Lanaura's own height running straight at her, a two handed great sword raised above his head and ready to strike.

Fast as she could she dismissed Sweetie back to her pocket dimension. Just in time it seemed, as the man's sword plunged through empty air where Sweetie's neck has been but a fraction of a second before.

The man let off a _very_ confused grunt. But he rallied admirably, halting his swords downward swing and immediately taking a horizontal swipe at her head.

Two of Lanaura's hidden daggers sprang seemingly like magic into her hands, held in a backhand grip. The two thin blades clashed against heavy steel, stopping it dead in its tracks.

In his confusion as to how such small blades had managed to halt seven pounds of sharp steel swung by a very strong man, his concentration slipped.

Lanaura took the opportunity he gave her. She forced his arms up, her blades snaked in and his blade was forced from his grip.

He could only watch as his greatsword plunged into the dirt to his side. He immediately looked back at his opponent…

Only to have his vision filled by gloved fist.

As Lanaura's fist impacted with the big man's face she reveled in the feeling of cartilage crushing underneath her knuckles as she broke his nose. Nothing a quick bit of healing magic wouldn't fix right up but a painful lesson to learn nonetheless.

After all, that's what you got for _trying to kill Sweetie!_ I mean c'mon, _who does that!?_

The big man was knocked ass over kettle onto his back by the force of the blow, slamming hard onto his back. If Lanaura had been one to take advantage of a knocked down man she would have swiftly and ruthlessly send a flying hoof where no man wished such a thing to go.

She wasn't such a woman, but she didn't get the chance to prove that. The more normal sized man from earlier had managed to snatch a fancy looking sword from somewhere and had charged her the moment his companion went down. A lightning quick inspection left Lanaura with the impression he was a Warrior, much like herself. He moved like almost every male Warrior she had ever met at least. Powerful bursts of movement that looked used to wearing heavy armor.

Not two steps behind him was the Elven woman, a pair of long knives, closer to short swords in her own hands. This one moved like a Rogue, graceful and light on her feet. She knew how to wield her weapons of choice, that much was certain.

Out the corner of her eye she kept watch on the two over by the tents. The pretty redhead woman had a bow in her hands with an arrow firmly knocked; just looking for a clear shot should her companions need her.

It was the older woman that really concerned Lanaura. She'd raided with enough Mages to know what a magic staff looked like, and that could only mean one thing. The woman was a mage herself, obviously.

That could be bad. If one was partial to understatement at least.

But all that was pushed rapidly to the sidelines as the two charging her got in range.

She jumped backwards away from the man's controlled swing, only to immediately clash blades with the woman who had surged in after her companion's opening.

She was quick as a serpent with her strikes, blades flashing in the dim light of the fire and the very last dregs of sunlight. Lanaura was able to match her blade for blade, but it was way too close for her liking.

This one was particularly skilled, worthy of respect. If they didn't end up killing one another she was going to have to talk dagger play later on.

And there was the problem. Getting them to stop trying to kill her.

"_Chethma, Akata'eras! Efto Tor oche kaso! Ein te neomeno, thuma chethma!"_ Lanaura yelled as she and her opponent continued their deadly dance. Inwardly, she swore. Light cursed bilingualism!

The elf didn't respond, she only dived out of the way, as did her male friend. Lanaura immediately swung towards the Archer and the Mage, readying herself to deflect any arrows that came her way now the Archer had a clear shot.

What she didn't expect was a hundred and ten kilogram, waist high missile slamming into her chest.

At the very last second Lanaura had managed to spot the incoming Wardog. She grabbed the dog's bottom jaw to stop him biting and fell backwards with his charge. Managing to get her legs under the dog as she fell, the moment she hit the ground she simply added a little bit more momentum. The dog was flung well behind her, impacting heavily with a sharp yelp of pain.

Lanaura continued to roll with her momentum, completing the full backwards roll. Easy as a born gymnast she rolled onto her hands and sprang to her hooves. Na'aru, she had to try fighting without her plate some time, it gave her so much more manoeuvrability!

So the war hound hadn't managed to bite her. Which would have been great and all if Lanaura hadn't been sent flying by five hundred kilograms of roaring, charging Bear.

Five hundred kilograms if you didn't know was a tremendous amount of weight. At a speed of twenty miles an hour when it hit, it made the Mabari missile from earlier feel like a gnat sting.

In Lanaura's defense, who the hell knew Humans could be druids in this world?

Lanaura was sent sailing a few meters to land face first in the mud next to the fire. Turns out, heavy traveling cloaks and leathers do little to stop angry Bear. Lanaura would have an easier time cataloguing the ribs that _weren't_ broken. And the dislocated shoulder, that was a thing.

Years and years of training kept Lanaura's weapons in her hand despite her short tenure as a seven foot tall blue space bird. Her arms had ended up above her head, both daggers firmly in her grasp.

Before she could even think to move a massive force slammed down on her entire body, crushing her to the dirt unrelentingly. It was if someone had turned up gravity especially for her, and went a little ham with the dial.

That would be the Mage's contribution then.

Two different boots were stamped on both of her wrists, and two separate pairs of hands forced her daggers from her grip. Another one straddled her back, judging by the weight it was the elf woman. Lanaura felt the unmistakable sensation of a blade being pressed against her neck through the heavy cloak and only then did the crushing pressure relent.

Now normally being straddled by pretty elf girls was a cause for celebration and a very entertaining evening, however right at that second Lanaura's ribs didn't exactly feel like partying. Instead they chose to be the pissed off neighbors of the organ world and protest loudly that someone had smashed a window. Or in this case, several windows.

"_Ow…_" She managed to squeeze out through the rather exceptional pain.

The knife dug into her cloak just that little bit more. How her hood had managed to stay up that whole fight was beyond her.

Despite the pain, Lanaura managed a pain filled nervous chuckle. _"Octethi?" _

Fuck! Draenei again! _This was not helping!_

"Now." She heard a light, feminine voice with an underlay of steel begin to speak. "You are going to tell us who exactly you are and why you attacked us!"

Lanaura couldn't help it, she couldn't help but get a bit offended. She was cut off from an angry retort by another voice, this one a male. "Might want to find out if she speaks Fereldan. We don't speak Angry Dragon Lady after all."

Lanaura winced heavily as her captor shifted slightly. "I didn't… Ow… Exactly mean to… Yell in Draenei." Lanaura forced out in Alliance Common. That was a relief, at least she could communicate.

"Now… I can't count… How many ribs… You broke with… That whole bear thing… But, I'm not going… Anywhere. _Light _this hurts… If you wouldn't… Mind… Getting up… Please?"

Lanaura could practically feel the frown coming from her captor.

"Wynne." The woman said after a couple seconds. "Check her."

She heard a shuffling as the older mage knelt down beside them. A hand pressed in the middle of Lanaura's back, just above where the Elf was sitting.

"Oh dear... Yes, she's telling the truth. She has four broken ribs. She's not going anywhere any time soon without help." Was the Mage's endorsement.

"Hm. Fine. But try anything at all and I'll kill you. Understand?" The elf, clearly the leader, threatened.

Quite unnecessarily as the case was. "Crystal."

With one last huff the blade was removed and the Elf's admittedly rather slight weight left Lanaura's back.

"Thank the Light for that…" Lanaura, freed from the extra weight pressing against her broken ribs was able to talk relatively freely once again. Well, as best she could while face down in the mud.

Anyone who wasn't a Warrior or Death Knight would still find the pain crippling, but hey. Years and Years of pain helped toughen a girl.

"Now I'm going to ask you again." The elf said. "Who are you, and why did you attack us?"

Lanaura groaned again. "The big guy tried to hurt Sweetie. I took exception to that." She explained. Poorly.

"Sweetie?" The male voice from earlier asked. "You named that dragon Sweetie? Wait a second, where did the dragon _go! _It just vanished! One second it was there the next, Poof! Why didn't I notice that before! _Dragon's don't just vanish like that!_" He ranted, sounding more and more hysterical as he went along.

"Shut up Alistair." The Elf commanded. "Not important right now. I'm sure we'll find out."

Ah, a name. Lanaura had at least one name to apply to a face. His voice was not deep enough to be normally associated to someone of Lanaura's height. With only two males in camp that weren't dwarves that meant he was the handsome, shorter one. Good to know. Could be useful information.

"Ok." Lanaura broke in. "I'm going to reach inside my bag. I am going to pull out a very potent painkiller, and I am going to drink that. That will let me sit up, so I can talk to you all while my face isn't in this Light damned mud. Is that ok?" She asked.

"Fine. Leliana, keep an arrow up. Just in case." The leader ordered.

Ah, another name! Things were looking up!

"Your mud smells like wet dog by the way. Oh, and I'd rather like my left arm back please."

"Huh? Oh, oh right. Sorry." The male, Alistair, sounded slightly embarrassed. Oh he was going to be fun to tease.

Lanaura was careful to use slow, steady movements as she reached her left hand to her waist and dipped it into the small bag at her hip, under the cloak. The reason was twofold.

One: So as not to startle anyone. Specifically the people aiming an arrow at her head.

Two: _Exceptionally _loud protests from her still very broken ribs.

She withdrew a small vial packed to the rim with potion, moved the bottle to her mouth, pulled the stopper with her teeth, spat the stopper out and downed the potion greedily.

The effect was immediate. Cool pain-free ness washed over her in one massive wave. As the sensation receded it left her feeling tingly and all around fantastic.

Not to self, kiss Trixie for her potions.

Lanaura groaned in relief as the pain was washed away. "Oh yes, that's the stuff. Can I get up now please?" She punctuated her request by wiggling her arm still trapped by boot.

Wordlessly the foot removed itself.

With a great groan Lanaura pushed herself up off the muddy ground enough so that she could plonk herself on her rather generous derriere.

Not giving the group surrounding her any real attention at the moment she flicked her hood off and shook out her hair, making sure it hadn't messed itself up too much. Fortunately, it had stayed in its customary ponytail.

She had just started running her fingers through it to check for tangles when a stunned Alistair brought her back to the present.

"What in Andraste's name _are_ you?"

Lanaura turned her full attention back to the group staring at her with mixed expressions of curious interest, in the case of the black haired druid woman, caution, in the case of the remarkably big war hound, Outright shock on the faces of the big bloke and slightly less outright shock on the faces of the rest.

She cocked an eyebrow. "What? Never seen a Draenei before?"

* * *

Kalian's mouth fell open, as did the mouths of her companions. Weirdly, it was _Sten_ who seemed the most shocked. For the regularly blunt as a Warhammer and stoic to a fault Qunari, it was a rather novel sight.

But even that oddity was no comparison to the quite clearly female… _person_ who had dropped into their camp and went toe to toe with two Grey Wardens, a very capable Qunari, two mages and a Mabari Warhound.

And the reason she gave why is_ Sten attacked her dragon_. Which, Kallian had to add, she was _RIDING_.

She could just feel the headache coming on.

And then, just to be difficult Kallian was sure, she ignored them all and focused her attention on fixing her (admittedly rather gorgeous) hair.

Trust Alistair to be unable to keep quiet for very long. "What in Andraste's name _are_ you?" He gasped, truly at a loss.

The woman blinked, as if realizing we were there. "What?" She replied in that odd accent of hers. "Never seen a Draenei before?"

Kalian couldn't help it. A palm smacked soundly into her forehead. The things she had to put up with…

Once again surprising them all, Sten was the next to speak. He started babbling in his native tongue, or so it sounded to her. It was clear he expected her to understand him.

His tone was quite easy to pick up however. He was confused, as_ HELL._

Through it all the woman just kept an eyebrow cocked in bemusement. When their Qunari trailed off she turned to Kalian. "Did you have any idea what he just said?"

Turning back to Sten she added a second comment. "Speak a' da normal language, OK?"

With a noticeable frown he switched back to Ferelden. "I asked why you were here. Why was a Tallis sent? Were you instructed to find an answer to the Arishok's question as well?"

The woman blinked. "A what sent by Who?"

"Do not lie. If you were not a Tallis, you would not fight. No Qunari woman does." Sten pressed the issue.

"Uh." The interrogated woman intelligently replied. "Well for one I'm not Qunari, whatever that is. I guess you guys really haven't met any Draenei before…."

"Preposterous." Sten dismissed. "You look exactly like a Qunari, therefore you are."

The woman sighed. "Ok… Do Qunami whatsits or whatever have hooves?"

"No."

"Oh. Well you see…"

Then she lifted a leg up and wiggled her foo.. Hoof? In Sten's direction.

"Cause I do."

Sten grunted. "It seems I was mistaken."

The woman eyed him with a flat stare. "Reeeeeeeealy?"

Kallian groaned in dismay. This was going nowhere.

"Ok, let's try this again. Who are you?" She asked, trying to bring things back on track.

The woman smiled brightly at her. "Hai, I'm Lanaura. I got a buncha titles, but people mainly call me the 'Champion of the Frozen Wastes'.

"Lanaura huh? No last name?" Kallian asked.

She shook her head. "That's me! And no, not many of my race do."

"All right then, what are you?"

Lanaura sighed. "A Draenei? Like I've told you? C'mon keep up."

Kallian's eyebrow twitched. Repressing the irritation she pressed on. "Why did you attack us?"

Lanaura looked shocked. "I told you, I didn't! All I did was scare the pants off of you. That guy…" She said, pointing at Sten. "Swung a sword at Sweetie. Seriously, who _does_ that?"

All eyes turned to Sten. He was still frowning. "I believed we were under attack. I reacted accordingly." He explained.

"Yea, and in case you hadn't noticed." Lanaura cut in. "Ya'll are still alive. All I did was break the big guy's nose. Because he tried to hurt my drake."

"Wait." Alistair cut in, as was his wont. "You knocked Sten clean out, went blow to blow with me, Kallian and Muffins, all because he tried to hurt your dragon? So this was all a big misunderstanding?"

"Muffins? Wait, was that the dog's name?" Lanaura asked, tone brightening.

Muffins fielded that question himself. He barked happily and wandered up to the Alien. At his cautious sniffing Lanaura laughed. She stuck a hand in her cloak and pulled a _huge_ raw steak from _nowhere_ and held it out for him.

It must have been a trick of the light. There was no other explanation for the fact that the Mabari's eyes suddenly seemed to turn into bright pink hearts as he happily lunged at the offered meat.

A couple seconds wolfing down the treat later and Muffins had a new best friend. He tackled the Draenei and started happily bathing her face in Mabari drool by rapidly licking her.

Lanaura giggled, happily cooing affection at the Warhound.

Kallian watched her warhound cover the newcomer in doggy love and could only let loose a huge, world weary sigh. Being arrested back in Denerim was sounding better and better by the day.

With a wave of her hand Leliana stood down, pulling the arrow from her bow. "Wynne, could you look over her please? She'll need healing."

Wynne shot her a questioning look. "Are you sure child?" She questioned.

"Yes Wynne. Muffins is a good judge of character as any. I don't think we will have any more problems."

"Oh yes, trust our safety to the _mutt_ then. 'Tis clearly the best idea." Their very own wilder witch scornfully stuck her own opinion. "After all the work I did subduing the creature."

From her spot on her back being slobbered on by Manbari Lanaura flicked a strange, no doubt very rude, hand gesture involving a single finger in the direction of Morrigan's voice.

A swishing of flaps drew everyone's attention to one of the nearby tents. Elsa had decided to make her appearance. She was clearly still asleep for the most part, all groggy eyes and hunched posture.

"What's goin on?" She mumbled.

She blearily took in the scene of the rest of the group surrounding a strange looking woman being licked by Muffins. Every single head was turned in her direction.

A couple seconds of awkward silence later, Lanaura was the first to speak. "Hello gorgeous! What's your name?"

Elsa blinked a few times. Without a single word she turned around and disappeared back in to her tent, no doubt not wanting to know in the slightest.

Then Alistair tried to smother a laugh, which sent Lanaura off doing the same. Then Leliana found herself unable to hold back a giggle. This cascaded and amplified until Wynne, Alistair, Leliana, Kallian and Lanaura were all laughing like madmen, the tension of the evening draining out in one go.

Sten and Morrigan simply wandered away, content to let their companions revel in their insanity for a few moments.

Their laughing fit finished Wynne went to work on the Draenei woman, wincing slightly as she did so. "Oh my, Morrigan certainly did quite a number on you didn't she?"

"Yea, remind me to not fight any druids without armour again." Lanaura mumbled, clearly enjoying Wynne's ministrations.

Kallian couldn't blame her, being healed by Wynne was great.

"What's a druid?" Alistair asked, sitting down in front of her.

Lanaura stared at him. "Uh, Druid? Shape changer, nature magic? That kind of druid?"

"Morrigan is indeed a shape changer, but we don't call them Druids." Wynne, the available magic expert explained. "It's just another form of Magic. A thought lost form, but a form nonetheless."

"Huh. That makes sense, Humans couldn't be druids last I checked. Question, Where am I?"

Kallian was taken aback. "Ferelden, why?" She questioned.

"In what continent?"

"Thaedas?"

Lanaura groaned loudly. "Oh Light curse it, I'm in another world aren't I. Blasted Gnome…" She dropped her head into her hands.

The four remaining shared a quick look. "Another… World?" Leliana questioned.

"Yea… So, I wanted to surprise my sister so I took a portal to where she was living. The mage who cast it clearly mucked it up somehow. And because I'm not a mage, I have no idea how to cast portals, let alone reverse engineer some way back." Lanaura explained. "So one moment I'm steppin through a portal like I have a million times before, next thing I know I'm waking up in crazy pain at the top of a ruined tower in the middle of a _huge_ amount of monster corpses."

The elf and the man both flinched. They shared a look, but Lanaura had already continued.

"So I got a look outside through a huge hole in the wall and _corpses everywhere_. Huge ruin just filled with corpses. It was pretty messed up."

"Ostagar…" Alistair breathed.

Lanaura looked up at him. "You know the place? What the hell were those things anyway? The creepy lookin things?"

Kallian sighed. "Yea, you could say we know the place. We call those creatures Darkspawn."

Lanaura grunted. "Fits."

"You could say that. Normally their not too much of a problem, they tend to stick down in the Deep Roads."

"Deep Roads?"

"Old Dwarven tunnels, stretching across the entirety of Thaedas." Alistair supplied. "There's probably one a few hundred feet down from this spot."

Kallian made a small noise of agreement. "Yea. But, every so often they start pouring out onto the surface, truly massive numbers of them. They, under the command of an Arch Demon, swarm and try to wipe out life on the surface."

"We call it the Blight." Alistair cut in. "And we are smack dab in the middle of one right now. The fifth one, to be exact. Now, the King and his main armies mustered at Ostagar, one of the southernmost defences. Old Tevinter fortress. The idea was to break their forces there, or at least weaken them. The plan was, The King, the Grey Wardens, and half the army would hold the Darkspawn at the fortress, then Teyrn Logain and his men would charge and slam them from behind."

"Hammer and Anvil. Simple, yet effective." Lanaura mused. "Teyrn Loghain was the General I guess?"

Alistair spat in the dirt beside him. "Yes, he was. Long story short he quit the field. Took his men and ran, leaving the King, his men and the Grey Wardens to die. And die they did. Every single one of them…"

Alistair trailed off, his gaze drawn into the flickering flames of the campfire.

Kallian picked up the slack. "We were the ones who lit the beacon. If it weren't for the craziest circumstances you've ever known we wouldn't have had a chance at surviving that. Morrigan's mother turned into a giant bird and plucked me and Alistair off the top of that tower. Or so I'm told, I was knocked out just before that."

Lanaura shot her a look. "A Darkspawn filled tower was where I woke up in. Wait… You wouldn't have killed one of those big bastards by shoving a pair of knives into its face would you?"

"Oh, right. Yea I did do that. That was me."

Lanaura barked a laugh. "Nice! That was some good work!"

Kallian couldn't help but smile at the praise.

"So these Grey Wardens. You've mentioned them a couple times. What are they exactly?" Lanaura asked.

"That's us! Grey Wardens are an organization that dedicates their lives to fighting Darkspawn wherever they may be. Only the Wardens can stop a Blight once it has begun. Not sure why, but there you go. Unfortunately for us, Loghain's treachery killed nearly all of them in Ferelden. It's just the two of us now. But, that will be changing soon, at least I hope." Alistair trailed off.

Lanaura was silent for a few moments. "Fancy some help?"

When all she received is shocked looks she felt the need to explain. "Hm. Well I didn't expect that reaction. Look, I'm a _very_ good Warrior. I need to say that again, I am a _VERY_ good warrior. You saw that tonight. I have absolutely no idea where I am or how I got here, no prospects, no way home, and no idea what to do now. So joining up to fight monsters sounds like a fantastic idea. I'm in."

"Well if…"

"Done." Kallian interrupted. "We were actually set to complete the Joining tonight anyway. The blonde sleepyhead you saw earlier will be at the same time."

Lanaura brightened considerably. "Really? Wohoo, anything that gets me closer to that pretty tushy is my kind of deal."

It was a study in opposites, the reaction of the listening group.

Alistair spluttered heavily and blushed up a _storm_. Wynne just shook her head and muttered something about "kids these days."

Leliana shot the blue woman an analyzing look, as if reconsidering something.

Kallian's palm thumped into her face. A gesture she felt would be repeated many, many times over the coming months.

"Ignoring that… Well, we look forward to welcoming you into the Grey Wardens Lanaura."

Lanaura laughed quietly to herself. "If only this was the first time I've fought against countless monsters intent on wiping out all life…" She muttered.

"What was that?" Alistair broke in.

"Nothing. Nothing, don't worry about it."

Kallian eyed her for a moment before shrugging. Not her problem. They had yet another recruit and that was that.

Wynne finished healing up all the battering Lanaura took from Moribear and the group split apart to go back to doing their own things. Lanaura immediately flopped on her back and was asleep in moments. Kallian had to envy that ability.

Leliana and Wynne went back to their conversation, Muffins fell asleep right next to their new Draenei companion.

That left Kallian and Alistair to wander away from camp for a bit. They had a Joining potion to make.

* * *

The next thing Lanaura knew was a hand laying itself on her shoulder. Snapping awake instantly and working entirely on instinct she had a dagger in her hand and was half way through drawing it when she recognized who it was.

She let out a breath. "In future… Don't do that."

Alistair shrugged. "Whatever you say. I'll wake you up with a stick next time shall I? Throw a rock from the other side of camp?"

She couldn't help but chuckle. "Point taken."

His voice grew serious. "Cmon. Elsa's already awake. It's time."

* * *

He lead her a few minutes away from camp, refusing to answer her questions, not that they were all that pressing.

Eventually they stepped into a small clearing where the theify elf girl and gorgeous blonde were waiting. A couple torches were set up, throwing what light they could.

Kallian was holding a silver chalice and looking very serious and Elsa was looking exceptionally nervous.

"Yeesh. The way you act, it's like someone died. What's with the long faces?" Lanaura asked.

Neither Warden responded, they simply shook their heads in sadness. For them, this was a very solemn moment. They weren't sure if either of their recruits were going to be walking back to camp with them tonight. Or ever.

"And so we come to the Joining." Alistair started his voice still uncharacteristically serious. "I won't lie. The Joining is dangerous. You are called upon to submit yourself to the Taint, for the greater good. You may not survive."

Lanaura and Elsa glanced at each other. Lanaura didn't outwardly react, Elsa still looked pretty nervous.

_And how she makes looking scared gorgeous I'll never know…_ Lanaura couldn't help but think.

Kallian nodded. "We speak only a few words prior to the Joining, but they have been said since the first."

"Join us, brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand, vigilant. Join as we carry the duty that cannot be foresworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. And that one day, we shall join you"

She paused for a moment, then held out the cup to Elsa. "Elsa, Step Forth."

The mage swallowed audibly. With only a seconds paused her eyes hardened. With a determination none of them had seen before from her she stepped forward and accepted the chalice.

"From this moment forth, you are a Grey Warden." Alistair intoned.

Elsa put the cup to her lips and drank.

One mouthful, that was all it took. The cup was quickly lifted from her hands, the reason why becoming quite evident very soon. Elsa started shaking, then convulsing. She fell to her knees and let loose a silent scream, her eyes turning milky white.

Then like a puppet with its strings cut she collapsed.

Immediately Kallian was over to her, checking the girl's condition. "Oh thank the Maker…" She said after a moment, her voice betraying all the horrible tension she had built up. Elsa would be fine.

But the Joining was not yet complete. Alistair held the chalice in his hands out to Lanaura, who was still eyeing the collapsed mage. "Lanaura, step forward."

The Warrior did, taking the cup gently in her hands. "What's in this stuff anyway?" She asked, her voice showing only cool curiosity and not the nervous/scaredyness that one would expect.

Mentally shrugging, Alistair responded. "Darkspawn blood, Lyrium and a drop of Archdemon blood."

"You've mentioned that before, this… Archdemon. What is that exactly?"

"It's what leads the Darkspawn during a Blight. A corrupted Old God."

Lanaura snorted. "Corrupted Old God… That's an oxymoron if I ev…_WHAT?" _

Both conscious Wardens jumped in surprise at her yell. "What, what is it?" Alistair asked.

"You have _Old Gods_ on this planet!" She gasped, horror evident in her voice.

At Alistair's nod she cursed long and loud in her own tongue. "Of course they're not just restricted to Azeroth… Noooo _that_ would be _easy_! No they had to be _more_!" She continued her rant in common.

"Fuck it! I drink this, and I can kill it right?"

Both Wardens, still taken aback at her sudden change in demeanor nodded.

Not another word was said. Lanaura simply gripped the chalice harder and slugged back the Joining potion in one go.

The chalice fell to the ground from shuddering fingers. "All right!" Lanaura gasped, already feeling the effects of the vile potion. "Let's kick some tentacly butt!"

And then in one great arc, like a massive tree being felled, she collapsed onto her back.

Alistair checked her over, and sighed in relief. "She's going to be Ok." He told his companion. "And would you look at that, we have doubled the number of Grey Wardens in Ferelden. Good job team."

Kallian only facepalmed again. With determined fingers she gathered what was left of the joining potion into two small pendants and stowed them away in her pocket. From there, they could only wait until their newest Grey Warden sisters awoke.

And so, there were four. Two new wardens. Despite everything that had happened, despite the monumental task they had yet to accomplish… Kallian couldn't help but feel optimistic.

* * *

**Translations:  
**  
_Chethma, Akata'eras! Efto Tor oche kaso! Ein te neomeno, thuma chethma!=_Wait Rogue! This is not good! I'm sorry! Please, wait!

_Octethi?= _Mercy?


	3. And so, it begins

Hello, Hello, Hello! Welcome back to Dragons, Wardens and Warriors! I am Lucky Fractal and these are my words.

So, funtimes. I actualy have had this done for a solid week and a bit. But my PC has been in the repair shop for a while now. I hope 6.6k words of Lanaura wackyness helps ease that wait just a tad. But it's here now, so Enjoy!

And to answer those who have been asking, Yes indeed, Elsa the Frost Mage is a not-so-sly nod at Frozen. I have plans for her, and i like how a character like her can fit into this universe. Look forward to it!

Reviewers! -

**Etheral-23 : **Thanks man! Have a chapter, on me! I'll just say that Lanaura is a very opinionated space goat, she will have views on things. _Strong_ views. Should be fun yea?

**Novice :** Glad I didn't! And I hope this dosen't either! We have a lot of story to go man, you never know! And yea. Danny is full of rubbish. Ignore him :P

**Danny :** You know man, I was going to put a character of yours into my fic man. I mean c'mon. We've been friends for _years_ now. But nooooooo. You just had to be a _you_ didn't you. So... NYEH. (Danny is a friend fellas, dun worry about him :P)

**Wurtheren : **Yes indeed they do live for that long. How the Taint affects our brave heroine is yet to be revealed sir. You will have to wait and see :P

**Jgkitarel :** _Very_ familiar. Hope you like it.

Anway now, Read, Favorite, Review (I squee a little at every single one) and i'll see you next chapter! Tootles!

* * *

The dreams were horrible.

Screaming, corrupted dragons, crazy Darkspawn, Old gods, Death, dismemberment, gore. You know, all the fun stuff.

But it did make a rather novel break from her usual nightmares of...

Screaming, the Litch King, crazy Dragons, Old Gods, death, dismemberment, gore. You know, all the fun stuff.

That didn't stop them sucking tho.

So when the crazy corrupted dragon lunged for her, jaws snapping down on her face she gasped and snapped awake. The two Wardens were looking down at her in concern, but when her eyes snapped open they both just looked relieved.

"You made it. Welcome." Kallian quietly informed.

"By all things Light, let's _never_ do that again…" Lanaura groaned, hand immediately going to her head.

The Wardens chuckled. "Fortunately, that won't be necessary. You only need to drink Archdemon blood once. Otherwise you'd have a revolt on your hands." Alistair joked.

"Yes well, thank the Nar'ru for that." Lanaura groused. With the two Warden's help she got to her feet, a little shaky but nothing she couldn't handle.

Elsa was already awake it seemed, looking only slightly the worse for wear. "You ok gorgeous?" Lanaura asked.

Elsa shyly looked away, a small blush heating her cheeks. But she did manage to nod her reply.

"Oh look at you, you're adorable! But I don't think we've been properly introduced, have we? I just dropped into camp and beat up half of your group."

Alistair spluttered his indignation. "We did just fine _thankyouverymuch!_ And it's your group too now. Don't forget that."

Lanaura chuckled. "Yes, yes sweetie I know. Anyway gorgeous, where was I… Oh yea. My name's Lanaura, Champion of the Frozen Wastes…. And, Grey Warden now I guess. What would yours be? Because I'm quite happy to just keep calling you Gorgeous if you insist." She added with a flirty tone and stuck out her hand for the other woman to shake.

Elsa's blush only intensified. Light, if this is how she got with such light flirting, she must be so very sheltered.

_Not for long…_

"I'm Elsa. Mage and Grey Warden now, I guess." She quietly replied, taking the offered hand. She managed to meet the Warrior's good humoured gaze which was a good sign.

"Mage huh. Fantastic! It's not a good party without a Mage. So, what now?" Lanaura directed her question to the two more senior Wardens.

"Right now, it's back to the camp for food and sleep. Tomorrow, we continue on to try and find the wandering Dalish Elves. We have a treaty that compels their assistance during a Blight. From there we have some choices, but it's not that important right now." Kallian explained

At the mention of food, the two newest Wardens' stomachs both rumbled loudly in stereo.

"Well. I suppose food sounds pretty good now that you mention it…" Lanaura said, patting her stomach good naturedly.

Kallian and Alistair both laughed quite loudly. "Oh yes, that happens. That's one of the 'perks' of Wardenhood. Huge appetite. Especially when you're new." Alistair explained. "Luckily we still have some soup left at camp."

A beaming smile lit Lanaura's face. "Food! So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She cried before dashing full tilt back in the direction of camp.

Leaving behind three very bemused wardens, who followed briskly in her wake.

* * *

The three found Lanaura sat by the fire, eyeing the pot of leftover stew with something resembling confusion.

"Is there a problem?" Kallian had to ask.

"This is supposed to be _food?_ You _ate_ this?" Lanaura asked, her voice full of horror.

Leliana, who along with Wynne was seated across the fire, suppressed a snort. She had said something quite similar the same evening.

"What's wrong with my cooking? It's just fine! The others enjoyed it, Right guys?"

Silence. Pure, unbroken silence. Kallian and Elsa even shuffled away from him slightly.

"Oh come on it's not that bad!" Alistair hotly tried to defend himself.

"It's grey Alistair. Your food is _grey_." Kallian reminded as she and Elsa plonked themselves down next to their new Draenei Warden.

"Yea but.. but that's just traditional Ferelden cooking!" Alistair whined, crossing his arms.

"If this is a typical example of Ferelden cooking, no thanks. I'll take Pandaren banquets any day of the week…" Lanaura muttered.

"Oh yea? Well we don't have any of that do we? So if you don't like what I cook then you can just do it yourself! Nyeh!" Alistair ranted, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Who said we don't have Pandaren banquets? I have a bunch right here." Lanaura cocked a confused eyebrow, pulling a small orange bag up and shaking it at him. It was about the size of an average coin purse.

"You have banquets… In there? You're joking right? This is a joke?"

Lanaura decided to not respond to Alistair's childish taunting. Instead she simply placed the bag on the ground.

Where it tripled in size without warning.

"What!" Everyone save Lanaura herself shouted.

Still ignoring them, Lanaura simply reached her _entire arm_ into the bag and pulled out a table of all things. A table stacked so high with food it made Kallian's mouth water.

"Oh yea, who's the boss. I'm the boss." Lanaura taunted the dumbstruck Alistair, throwing the Templar the same gesture she'd flashed Morrigan.

"What kind of magic is that?" Wynne interrupted Lanaura's victory dance. Her voice was utterly shocked and came out in not much more than a breath.

Lanaura looked around at the assembled people, seeing the exact same looks of sheer wide eyed, slack jawed astonishment repeated on each and every face.

"What, what? It's just simple enchantment; any good adventurer worth her salt has the same thing. Makes traveling so much easier, I can tell you." She explained. Poorly.

Elsa was the first to recover. "Um, No. No we… We don't have that kind of magic. But it's amazing!" She replied.

"Wait, so you have to carry all your armour, weapons, camping supplies 'n stuff… In just, normal bags? Oh my god I can't tell you how sorry I am…" Lanaura breathed, her expression comically shocked.

"Yea well, we don't all come from another world do we? Some of us are just normal people with _normal_ supplies and _normal_ magic." Alistair grumbled.

"Wait, Armour, weapons? How much do you have in that exactly?" Leliana asked.

"Hmm. Good question. Lemmie have a look…"

Lanaura pulled the bag open wide and stared at the unfathomable bottom. "Two different sets of armour, three sets of my own personal weapons, blacksmithing supplies, mining pick, fishing rod, buncha spare meat, cooking supplies, ten more Pandaren banquets, fifteen Epoc stones, more Ghost Iron than I can shake a stick at, buncha Trillium ore, ten Spirits of Harmony, few stacks of useful potions, my mounts, my pets aaaaaaand…. Two hundred and five thousand gold pieces. Amongst a bunch of other stuff I can't be bothered telling you right now." She finished.

Wide eyed, slackjawed Astonishment was becoming a fairly common occurrence. Even on Morrigan's face, she herself had wandered over at the smell of decent food and caught the entire thing.

Sten was busy devouring as much food from the banquet as he could. Sten didn't care.

"But yea, that's not so special. Why are you looking at me when there's food there? I for one am _Starving!_" Lanaura admonished before turning away and stuffing her face with delicious Pandaren noodles.

"Two hundred and five…" Alistair whispered in absolute disbelief.

The remaining party looked at each other and all came to the same decision. They all simultaneously gave up. Not even going to bother asking.

Without a word, they all gathered around Lanaura's table and ate to their hearts content.

* * *

Bellies full and tensions eased, the party lounged about the fire in darkness, more at ease than they had been for ages. Something about stuffing themselves to the brim from a table that seemed to never run out of food no matter how much they ate just relaxed everybody.

"That was… _Amazing_…" Leliana sighed in contentment.

The rest all heartily agreed.

"I've decided!" Kallian called from her place on her back. "Lanaura is now party chef!"

The heartfelt yells of agreement split the cooling night air. Lanaura laughed heartily at the praise. "Oh stop it you guys… You'll make me blush!"

"That was the best food I have ever tasted. The Arishok him self's own chefs are not nearly as accomplished." Sten countered. Sten never lied.

"Aww. Aren't you just the nicest thing? How about desert?" Lanaura giggled. From her magic bag she pulled a bowl full of something white, cold and creamy looking, with a spoon to go along with it.

"Here, try it."

Sten carefully took the confection. "What is this?"

"That my fine man is Ice Cream." Lanaura explained with a massive smirk.

Sten scooped a spoonful of the frozen delicacy, popping it carefully in his mouth.

The party watched in awed curiosity as Sten's face immediately melted in rapture as the exceptionally sweet vanilla flavour flowed over his taste buds.

"I… I cannot find the words to explain this. It is… Exceptional." Sten commented at last, his normally monotone voice filled with emotion.

He locked eyes with Lanaura. "I would follow you anywhere Kadan. My blade is yours." He straight up told her, bowing in respect.

Lanaura could only laugh hard and long. "Yea, that's ice-cream for you. Soothing the savage beast." She gasped a length. "And I shall accept your loyalty. For now, we follow the elf. But one day, I may call call upon you… And on that day we shall take control of this country, and then the WORL_*SMACK*_Ahhhh.."

Lanaura trailed off, clutching the side of her head. Elf palm introduced to the side of Draenei head at high speeds tends to interrupt trains of thought rather effectively.

"No using my Qunari for your crazy schemes." Kallian scolded her. "I need him."

"Not forever!"

Kallian face palmed.

"Do the rest of us get any?" Alistair asked eagerly.

They hardly saw him move. One moment Sten was enraptured by soft milky goodness, the next he had his great sword pointed directly between the Templar's eyes, challenge evident in his gaze. The "to the death" kind of challenge.

Alistair gulped. "_Oooooorrrrr_… Ok, no problems big guy. Don't worry, its _aaalllll_ yours." He nervously backed off.

With a grunt, Sten's great sword was removed from between Alistair's brows. "Then I foresee no future problems."

He returned to his bowl with nary another word said.

Lanaura leaned in and stage whispered into Elsa's ear. "I can't wait until I introduce him to cakes."

Kallian groaned and face palmed.

* * *

The group chatted for a while after that, Lanaura being properly introduced to everybody. Lanaura and Elsa were congratulated for their successful Joining.

Lanaura asked a couple questions about Ostagar and Ferelden, where Leliana's accent was from and "Why in Light's name did it sound so sexy, was it magic?", what the Grey Wardens actually did (Maybe jumping feet first upon hearing the words "Old God" maybe sorta wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done,) where they were heading and what they hoped to find there and various other light topics.

By then, it was very late. The group broke up and vanished to their various tents/bedrolls, cautiously optimistic about their future.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and clear. Actually, no. That was a total lie. It dawned grey and miserable.

Until of course Lanaura cooked breakfast. Then they agreed it might be the best morning ever.

Loath though she was to remove her snuggly traveling clothes, Lanaura decided it was best to start traveling in her armour like the rest of the group. Apparently they had been attacked frequently while on the roads by everything from Darkspawn to wolves to the average bandit.

It wasn't like she was unused to traveling in heavy plate, it's what she usually did after all. But it was cold dammit!.

As Lanaura stepped out of Kallian's tent, the use of which she had begged off the woman to get changed in, the Warden's party stopped once again in awe at the Draenei woman.

Lanaura openly smirked at the reaction, the expression visible to all due to her usual habit of not wearing the helmet, ever. (It messed up her hair, couldn't have that) Sanctified Ymirjar Lord's armour was tad… different.

The muted grey metal and bright, ice blue etchings in Vrykul design stood out starkly compared to the heavy chain, scale armour and leathers. Each shoulder guard was a stylized boar's head rearing proudly. Lanaura was also one of the few females she knew who had extended the chest plate to actually lock in with her leg guards, not leaving a large chunk of her stomach exposed.

Lanaura was good, maybe even very good. But having that much exposed vial organ just kind of seemed silly. It was a little comforting to see that Mages didn't wear armour here either. So things weren't completely out of whack.

Along with the brutal looking armour Lanaura had chosen to go with her sword and board. The elegant Enchanted Shao-Tien Sabre and brutal Bulwark of the Fallen General. Two weapons she had… acquired… during the assault on Orgrimmar. The Shield, to honour the loyalty and bravery of the Orc she had taken it from, General Nazrgrim. And the Sabre… It was pretty, what could she say. And the blue flame of the shield matched the blue etchings in her Armour. Again, what could she say?

The party refused to believe her gear was actually quite _plain_ compared to most. But then again, when you've seen shoulder guards the size of Sten's arm, everything's rather toned down.

After the requisite questioning about her weapons and armour, where she got it and the like, the party finished breaking camp and moved out. Lanaura discovered that Bodhan and Sandal, who she had been introduced to the previous night, were splitting from their group and heading east to Orzammar, capital of the Dwaven nation. She was a little sad to see them go, Sandal was just a little cutie. He'd gasped mightily and giggled in pure glee when Lanaura had given him her sword to examine.

She'd never heard the word "enchantment" used so frequently. She made a mental note to introduce him to one of her enchanter friends if she got the chance. Might blow the kid's mind.

* * *

It only took an hour on the road for Lanaura to get _fed up_. "Ok, that's it. No more." She stated, stopping completely.

The party all regarded her. "What's the problem?" Kallian asked, the exasperation in her voice very clear.

"I'd forgotten how awful walking everywhere is. I haven't had to do that in years. You don't have mounts?" She questioned.

"We don't have any horses or the coin to buy them Lanaura. We've been running on whatever we can loot from whatever blighters we kill for the last month." Kallian sighed.

Lanaura brightened. "Well you have me now! I'm not exactly bad off you know."

"You said something along the lines of two hundred thousand sovereigns? That's enough to supply a small army for... I don't even know how long. Even the nobles of Val Royeaux couldn't claim to have ever seen that much money." Leliana stated.

"Really? Cause it's not that much where I came from. I mean I'm pretty well off, better than most, but I'm not that rich. But that's beside the point. I refuse to have to walk everywhere. And you're in luck. I'm guessing you can all ride well enough?"

Lanaura got nods from everyone except Morrigan and Elsa. "I cannot ride, but I can keep up well enough in my wolf form." Morrigan assured at Lanaura's questioning gaze.

Lanaura nodded. "That solves that problem then. And of course, I dont need a mount for Muffins... All right guys, cm'ere and take one of these. No questions now just do it." She called.

The party warily talked over and were all given a strange stone from Lanaura's bag.

Elsa was waved away, with a hurried "you get yours in a sec" as an explanation.

"Ok, rub it and think of a horse." Lanaura instructed.

Within a couple of seconds there were several poofs of smoke, a chorus of horsy noises, and humanoid gasps.

When the smoke cleared everyone sat astride proud Stormwind horses of differing colours and breeds, some with armour and some without. "How did you…?" Wynne whispered in wonder, grabbing the mane of the horse under her and feeling it as if to prove to herself it was real.

"Exactly the same way Sweetie vanished last night. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Pocket dimension mount storage is quite possibly the best thing ever." Lanaura explained with a smirk on her face.

"How many of these things do you have?" Kallian gasped.

"A lot. And every one of 'em can be summoned and dismissed on a whim. Now you see why I don't like walking." Lanaura laughed.

"This… This can cut our travel time by half or more!" Leliana gasped. "This is fantastic!"

The chorus of agreement couldn't have been more sincere. Even Sten's lips might have twitched. Maybe. Could have been a trick of the light, you never know.

"Um… What about me?" Elsa piped up in that quiet voice of hers.

Lanaura looked her over. "Hmm. Well you can't ride a horse, so I would seriously doubt you could ride a Night Saber or Dragon Turtle."

At Elsa's raised eyebrow she explained. "Big cat and bigger turtle. And don't look at me like that those turtles are _fast_."

Elsa could only shake her head.

Lanaura looked her over, cocking her head. "Hmm. Normally I'd just have you ride with me on my Tundra Mammoth or Travellers Yak, but we're going to be in a forest so they'd be too big. What to do…" She trailed off.

"Aha!" She exclaimed after a few seconds.

Hand diving back into her bag she pulled out a… Key?

The Draenei stroked the metal with a mad smile. After a second and another puff of smoke a fearsome roaring filled the clearing, like the warcry of some demonic beast.

When the smoke cleared, Lanaura was revealed, lounged on the seat of a… something… with a titanic smirk on her face.

"Andraste's _tits_! What is that!" Wynne gasped.

Every single head turned in her direction, surprise on their faces. "What? I was young once!" She defended. "And I think that deserves something a little stronger than usual."

Lanaura couldn't hold it in any more. She cracked up laughing, clutching her stomach and pointing in their general direction. "Haha! You should have seen the…! The looks on your faces!" She managed to force out in between guffaws.

Kallian facepalmed.

Alistair groaned. "You know… It's going to get to the point where nothing will surprise me. She's going to do stuff like this to the point where I just won't react anymore. Honestly, I can't wait."

The rest of the party quietly agreed.

After Lanaura composed herself, she started explaining what it actually was that she was sitting on. "This my friends is a Mekgineers Chopper. An absolute wonder of modern Gnomish engineering. As for how it works, I have absolutely _no idea_."

Kallian wasn't the only one who facepalmed this time.

"But!" Lanaura happily continued. "I know that it works. And it hasn't ever blown up on me. So what's going to happen is, you are going to be riding this with me." She finished, flashing Elsa a smile.

Elsa didn't exactly look in the smiling mood. "Wait, I'm going to be riding that? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Hey, trust me. It's perfectly safe. All you need to do is hop on and I'll do everything else. Have a little faith, yea?" She put a reassuring hand on the Mage's shoulder.

Elsa sighed. "Ok."

With a happy smile, Lanaura pulled the woman over to her, directing her to sit behind her and where to put her feet. "Now wrap your arms around my waist and hold on tight. This is going to be fun!"

Elsa quickly followed the woman's instructions, her head resting against the cool armour between the much taller woman's shoulder blades.

"All right! Let's go!" The happy Draenei yelled, gunning the Chopper. With another roar the back wheel spun faster than the eye could see, digging a large trough into the soft ground. All of a sudden the wheel found its grip, and the chopper was sent launching forward.

The party were left in its wake, listening to the sounds of Lanaura's manic laughter and Elsa's panicked yelling at her to slow down fade away.

And trying not to laugh at a cursing mud splattered Alistair.

After a moment, Kallian and Wynne looked at each other.

"She had absolutely no idea where she's going does she." Wynne sighed.

"None at all."

* * *

One week later:

It had seemed like such a great plan at first. I mean they had this treaty thing from ages back that allowed them to demand the blighting, prancy, flighty, racist buggers help them out.

I mean how hard could it be?

Step 1: Find the Dalish.

Step 2: Get their help.

Step 3: Profit.

Ah, but therein lies the problem. _Finding the buggering elves!_

A week they'd spent in this blasted forest by Kallian's count. A week going here and there and everywhere searching for signs that the elves had been there recently.

Even with Lanaura flying high above the treetops on Sweetie they had proven elusive. It made her wonder just how exactly the City elves she knew that had left the Alienage in search of the clans had fared.

Hopefully better than they had.

The week had passed without conflict, well, from within the party at any rate. The two new Wardens had been given a trial by fire a couple days into their ride, there had been an attempted Darkspawn ambush in the forest.

Lanaura and Alistair proved to be a fantastic team of "meat-shields", or so Lanaura had referred to the two as. She was apparently quite used to working in tandem with another heavily armoured sword and board, punchy drunk person, absorby two hander person, or _bear_.

The whole "Tanking" idea had taken some time to explain and Lanaura had done a remarkably _poor_ job of the whole thing.

That discussion had lead onto discussions of the various specializations that combatants in Azeroth chose or "classes" as Lanaura had referred to them.

Now all that made sense, talk of Druids, Mages, Priests, Paladins and the like all were clear enough. The only problem was, Lanaura couldn't give details. At all. Aside from summaries like "Good with range and has a thing for animals, don't use weapons like normal folk, dying only ended up pissing them off, hears rock voices, turns into animals and does _everything_, and stun, stun, stun, stun, VANISH… " the blue woman refused to give any further detail.

She could explain about all things Warrior however. And did so. _All the time_. Kallian was of the persuasion that Lanaura had honestly never bothered herself to learn anything about how her companions fought aside from if she_ needed_ to know, so she could continue hitting things to the best of her ability.

An ability which, Kallian had to admit was exceptional.

The small band of about twenty Darkspawn had rushed them from the woods. But instead of the unwary, unprepared travelers the mindless beasts were expecting they ran headlong into a prepared wall of spell and steel.

Morrigan and Elsa had done their job, thinning their ranks with brutal Blizzards and Fireballs. When the less than ten remaining Darkspawn got in range they were swiftly dispatched, falling nigh instantly to the combined efforts of the two Tanks, Sten's great sword and Kallian's short blades. It had ended up being rather cathartic, taking all the frustrations of the last couple days out on some evil creatures.

Which was good. Because they'd be killing a lot of them by the end of this whole ordeal.

The group had adjusted to the new member quite quickly. Lanaura was of course quite friendly with Leliana, bonding over talk about hair care very quickly and had become fairly fast friends.

She found Alistair exceptionally fun to tease it seemed. Thus, she did so. A lot. Kallian felt a little sorry for the man. If it was possible for a man to give himself a tan from the heat of his blushes alone, Alistair was going to be that man.

Not that Alistair was the only one on the receiving end of her not so subtle flirting. Elsa, the poor girl, was as well. Being reminded of the fact that she spent hours a day with her hands wrapped around the Draenei's waist made her blush as hot as Alistair. But despite that Elsa seemed quite friendly with her fellow Warden, or as friendly as she was with anyone at least. The closed off mage had still proven unable to relax around them, which worried Kallian slightly.

Wynne was treated with a healthy respect, Lanaura sighting that "Pissing off the people who keep you alive is never a good idea".

In regards to the stoic Qunari of their group, he and Lanaura got along better than Sten and Anyone. They were often seen together, silently enjoying each other's company or discussing warrior things that Kallian didn't understand. It also didn't hurt that Lanaura was the one supplying him with sweets.

Speaking of the head elf, Kallian found herself unable to be distant with the beautiful blue woman. She was happy, quick witted, friendly, unafraid of offering her own opinion when asked (Or when not asked) undoubtedly useful, and a demon with her weapons. She and the Draenei had talked a few times the last week and she had found a real friend in the woman. Very early on Lanaura had insisted that she be called "Lan" because she had decided to never refer to her as anything other than "Boss" or "Kalli".

"We're friends right? That means Nicknames~!" She had singsonged.

Even Morrigan had been subjected to 'the Lanaura treatment'. Kallian had asked how well Lanaura got along with the prickly apostate. She had replied with "I've had the type before. She's a good woman underneath all the bluster, I think. She'll come around."

So here they were, waiting for Lanaura to get back from another of her scouting flights with Sweetie.

Oh look, there they are now.

With a flare of her massive wings Sweetie landed with a thud a few dozen feet away. She was quickly dismissed and vanished. Lanaura excitedly started running over to their small camp. Good news at last it seemed!

"Got em!" Lanaura yelled, the group perking up instantly at her happy tone.

"Where." Kallian instantly demanded, already starting to pick up her gear.

"About two miles south!" She informed, pointing out the way.

"Good work. Alright guys, let's move out! Start packing your things, we'll move out as soon as Alistair and Wynne get back." Kallian ordered.

They ended up not having to wait long. The two wayward party members returned by the time they'd broken camp. They were riding hard, grim looks on their faces. Bad news it seemed.

"Kallian! Has Lanaura gotten back yet?" Alistair asked, out of breath as he and Wynne pulled up beside her. She frowned, the horses were agitated and flighty. She'd never seen them like that before, even during a bandit attack a few days ago.

"Yea, she got back a few minutes ago. We found the Dalish at least, they're about two miles from here. What's the problem?"

"About three miles east, I felt something. Taint, coming from a cave in the middle of a set of ancient ruins."

Kallian growled. "Darkspawn?"

Alistair shook his head. "No, not Darkspawn. It's different… Like a constant pulse, just… spewing out of the entrance. I'm glad we found the Dalish but I think we should investigate. We didn't go in, Wynne thought we should return with everyone."

Kallian nodded. "Good. We have no idea what we might find. Grab some water and get ready to ride back out."

Turning away she called the rest of the group to attention. "Everyone listen up, change of plan! Alistair's just informed me of a Tainted cave not far from here. And not the Darkspawn kind of Taint, another kind. We're going to find out more. Get ready for a fight, we don't know what we're walkin into!"

Grim nods all round followed. Except for Lanaura. Who instead smiled. Evilly.

* * *

They chose to not ride very hard, the day was young and no-one save Lanaura was particularly excited at the prospect of combat. After an hour or so, the Wardens started to feel it. The deep, malevolent _wrongness_ of the taint.

Kallian called a halt, suggesting they proceed on foot for now. It would be easier to react to sudden threats while not mounted.

So the group all dismissed their rides and readied their weapons, continuing on.

The found the cave a few minutes later, exactly as Alistair had described. It made the Wardens feel filthy even being near it. Even the non-Wardens in the party were feeling the bad juju.

The team grimly formed up, weapons were readied, and they pushed forward into the cave.

Only to have Lanaura immediately trip and fall on her face.

She started cursing violently, but that just meant she was going to be fine. Naturally, Kallian and the rest looked down to see what exactly had tripped the tall woman.

A foot. A foot was what she had tripped over. A foot belonging to a leg, which belonged to the unconscious Dalish elf propped up in a recess in the cave wall.

Wynne, ever the healer, was very quick to jump in and check her over, hands glowing. Her eyes shot open. "This girl is alive!"

"She must be one of the Dalish from that clan. What should we do?" Alistair asked.

Kallian thought it over. "Ok. How is she Wynne?"

Wynne shook her head. "Not good. Alive, but not good. She'll die soon, unless we manage to get her proper treatment. If we can get her back to her camp, her Keeper and myself should be able to help." Was Wynne's prognosis.

"Hm. Lanaura?"

"Yes boss!?" Lanaura answered, jumping to her feet.

"Can Sweetie take more than one?"

Lanaura nodded. "Yea, I should be able to carry her with me. Take her back to her camp?"

"Fast as you can. And try not to scare them too much. We need their help. We'll be following as fast as we can. This cave can wait."

Lanaura snapped her fingers. "Got it. Don't worry boss, I got a way less scary lookin flying mount I'll use."

The big woman cradled the much smaller figure of their Dalish patient gently in her arms, hoisting up as if she were light as a feather. Which she was, really. The girl was _tiny_.

Wynne, on the other hand, was briskly grabbed and tucked under her other arm, much to her dismay and protest. Both her charges firmly in hand, Lanaura sprinted out of the cave.

Lanaura's hand dived into her bag of tricks, pulling out new mount stone. A flash, a puff of smoke and a squawk later she was sat astride a magnificent, snow white Griffon.

Wynne was dropped, and quickly remounted behind the Draenei, their charge still in the blue woman's arms. With a flare of pure white wing the Griffon launched itself into the air and out of the rest of the party's sight.

Alistair's gasping drew her attention as the rest of the party swiftly moved outside to chase the Draenei. The man himself was in shock it seemed, shakily pointing towards where Lanaura had been, jaw about floor level.

"She… Did you… She… But they… _Griffon_!" He managed to stutter out.

Kallian face palmed. Then, she shook her head and slapped the back of Alistair's own. "I don't know why anything she does surprises you anymore. We'll get an explanation from her later. Now let's _move_!"

* * *

"So why exactly did you feel the need to kidnap me?" Wynne shouted over the rushing wind, gripping very tightly to the Draenei woman. "And where exactly did you get a Griffon of all things?"

"Figured you and their healer might want to work together on this one. As for Griffons, they're a dime a dozen in Azeroth. And hey, you've never flown before right? Enjoy the ride!" She laughed, shifting the Dalish woman to sit better in her arms.

"No, no. I think I'm just going to keep my eyes shut and try not to fall off for now thank you." Wynne rambled with a shudder.

The fun part was they weren't even that far up, just a few feet from the tree tops. But Lanaura didn't comment, just kept her griffon on course for the Dalish camp.

As the cave receded behind her, Lanaura's face grew grim. She put a hand to their charge's brow. "Fuck!" She cursed after a moment.

"What, what is it!" Wynne demanded.

"Bloighting, Light cursed… I couldn't feel it before, that cave was overflowing with the Taint. It's the girl. she's been Tainted, badly. Like, really bad. As in, should have turned into a ghoul by now bad."

"And yet she has not..."

Grimly, they continued on towards the camp.

They were on it in moments, fortunately for Wynne. They cleared the treetops and shot straight for a small piece of open ground in the middle of the camp, heedless of the shouts and cries of the Elves below.

The Griffon landed with a thump, Lanaura lifted her eyes….

And stared down the points of a dozen knocked arrows aimed straight at her.

"Step away from our hunter, creature! We will shoot if you don't!" One yelled at her.

"You know, one day I'm going to land and not be immediately threatened, cajoled or assaulted." Lanaura muttered.

Wynne ignored her. "Hold, please! We and the rest of our party found this one in a cave not far from here. She has been badly wounded and needs treatment!"

"Enough! Stand down!"

The commanding voice cut over the hunters return shout. The shout came from a robed woman, older than the rest and carrying a staff that was running towards the griffon.

Upon reaching them the elf woman immediately put a hand to the sick woman's brow, frowning heavily. "Mahariel…"

Her eyes flicked up to them, guarded and tense.

"My name is Marithari, I am the Keeper of this clan. You found her you say?"

"Yes we did. She was in a cave not far from here. The rest of our party is coming by land; they should be here soon if you could warn your hunters." Wynne informed.

Marithari nodded. "Bring her into my Aravel, I will do what I can for her."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the situation was no better. In fact, it was a great deal worse.

Both Marethari and Wynne had been frantically working on the still unresponsive young Dalish woman. To no seeming effect. It was quite obvious that they were having no luck, but they refused to give up, just pouring more and more of their magic into the woman.

Mahariel… That was what her name was. Whether that was her first name or last Lanaura couldn't say. Lanaura had laid her on the Keeper's cot, which had been swiftly brought to the centre of the room to facilitate medic stuff.

Lanaura watched them work, feeling utterly useless. Give her a blade and a thing to kill she was unmatched. Here? She may as well have been part of the furniture. A sofa maybe, or a hunting trophy. She always did think her horns were valuable...

A flurry of motion from the corner of her eye drew her attention. Ah, it seemed like the rest of the party had arrived. Kallian sat down next to her, the only one seemingly been allowed into the Keeper's tent.

"How is she?" Kallian asked very quietly so as not to disturb the mages.

"Not great Boss."

With a world weary sigh and a curse in a language she did not understand, Marethari collapsed. "I am afraid I can do no more. The Blight sickness is overwhelming. She has shown such will, to hold on as long as she has. But I can do no more for her."

Wynne backed off slightly as well, hands returning to their non glowy normal. "The wounds and internal damage she had has been healed, but there is nothing I can do about the Taint." She explained for the two non-healer's benefit.

Both of the women looked exhausted, ready to drop. They had clearly done everything they could. But it had not been enough.

Wait… There was... _that_…

It had been a while, years upon years, but she should still be able to…

Yes… It was worth a shot at least!

Lanaura jumped to her feet and rushed over, dropping to her knees next to the Hunter's head. "I'm going to try something. I have absolutely no idea if it will work, but I feel as though I have to try."

"Of course, if it helps bring our hunter back to us. Please, continue." Marethari bid her.

Lanaura nodded to her. She turned back and closed her eyes, bringing her hands together in front of her chest, palms pressed against one another.

A deep breath in, a deep breath out. Then another, and another. She was ready.

Lanaura drew a knife from a hidden sheath, and with a flash of motion scored a gash across her palm. She then scored another gash in the hand of her patient, letting free distressingly black blood.

She gripped the limb tightly with her cut hand, letting the black and red blood mingle.

As she turned her focus inward, she was vaguely aware of a scuffle near her, of Wynne and Kallian's shouting. But all that was pushed aside in her mind as she turned her focus inward, towards that ever glowing font of light that every Draenei shared.

The Nar'ru had not forgotten them. And this gift was how they knew. With nary a moment's hesitation she grasped on the well of Light, and pulled.

The Gift of the Nar'ru rushed to her, filling her body with warmth and Light. In the outside world a sigil appeared in a glowing projection an inch above her forehead, the only outwardly visible sign she was pulling a miracle out of her ass.

She called to the Light within her, coaxed it forth and directed it, pushing it towards the connection between her and the dying elf. The Light seemed to sense the dark, malignant corruption in the girl and leapt to combat it.

The Light rushed into Mahariel, pushing back the Taint as it flowed into her veins. Where ever it went the Taint fled or was cleansed in the healing fire, unable to stand against the pure good of the Light.

But it wasn't enough. Her reserves waned all too soon, leaving much of the black Taint behind as it faded. But it had done enough for now. Mahariel would live for a while longer; long enough for what Kallian was probably already planning to do.

At last the Light faded. It receded back into her core, leaving behind a giddy, elated feeling.

Along with utter, bone weary exhaustion.

Lanaura returned to full consciousness, collapsing onto her back as the wave of weariness washed over her.

This feeling of both being exhausted and fulfilled was part of the reason she didn't use the Gift much. It felt way too much like orgasmic afterglow without any of the orgasm.

But all that was washed away when Wynne's decidedly unhappy face popped into her bleary view. She looked about ready to spit tacks. And the staff she pushed threateningly into Lanaura's cheek didn't help that image.

"You, _maleficar_, have much to explain."

Oh _Bloight_.


	4. Not a good night for a stroll

Author's Note:  
Good Evening Internets my name is Lucky Fractal and these are my words.

Wowzers. These chapters just keep getting longer. Soon i'll be breaking Eight Thou per. Yikes.  
But in any case, here is my newest chapter for your reading pleasure. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some luls.

Any and all instances of the Draenei language use the fantastically talented Eidthi's Draenei primer, a link to witch will be in my Profile. Check it out if that's your deal.  
A helpful translation will be provided at the bottom of the chapter, for your convenience.

Also, just noticed, but I broke one thousand views! Milestones! Wohoo! You guys are amazing. I hope to live up to the expectations you all have.

Yours Faithfully,

Lucky Fractal.

**Reveiws - **

**Novice - **I am using Oxhorn's curses. Glad someone grabbed that. He's amazeballs. :P  
Yes indeed, Sten was a widdle bit OOC, but hey. Ice Cream. If _anything_ is going to crack his stoic attitude, it's _Ice Cream_.

**Azralin - **Mkay. Here you are. :P

**Anonymoose Guest - **Oh you. I would have _loved_ to be able to respond directly back to you. If you're reading this, get a profile. Please. :P  
Yep, the contrast just _begs_ for comedy. And hell, I have a bunch of fun writing it, so why not right?

Now. Wynne.

You are right, Lanaura does work on a completely different plane than the rest of them. And Wynne understands that. Most of the time.  
But one must remember that Wynne is an Aequitarian. Not quite a Loyalist, but still pretty in to the whole 'blood mage=bad, no exceptions, and Magic=dangerous' spiel the Chantry likes to spout.

Wynne has been raised her _entire life_ to believe that blood mages are pure evil. She betrays you for example even after saving the circle if you happen to be a Blood Mage when you go there (and dont chose the right choices of dialogue. Warden Magic, lol.)

In the case of Lanaura's actions at the end of last chapter, she saw Blood, and Magic. And jumped to a very wrong conclusion. They have only known each other for just over a Week at this point, the sheer level of Lanaura hasn't quite sunk in yet :P

The little scuffle Lanaura hears is Kallian holding Wynne back from doing anything rash. _She_ understands that what Lanaura was doing was prolly completely different from what they thought. Then again, Kallian has no real opinion of Magic in general aside from 'it's useful.'

Hope that cleared things up enough!

**Qijong - **_I'm Boar Thrills, and i'm here to teach you how to survive in some of the harshest enviroments of Azeroth. On this episode, we're going to the horrible, brown, dog smelling country of Ferelden. Should be a challange._

Yes. Wowcrendor FTW. And Awww. Your warm fuzzies make Me get warm fuzzies. Enjoy your chapter my friend! :P

**Bandgsecurityaw - **Thanks! That was the idea.

* * *

"You, _maleficar,_ have much to explain." Wynne spat the strange word like it tasted bad.

Lanaura blinked at her and her unfamiliar word. "Lolwat?" she groggily questioned.

"Don't try to deny it, we all saw! Did you honestly expect to get away with using Blood Magic? In front of two experienced mages?" Wynne demanded incredulously.

Lanaura blinked at her again. "Ok, one, please move your staff. I'd have done it myself by now, but I can't move. Two, what in Velen's name is a maleficar? Can I eat it?"

She heard a groan from behind her head, and the becoming-unmistakable sound of Kallian's palm smacking her forehead.

"A Blood Mage, Lan." Kallian helpfully supplied from just out of her sight.

"Oh. Well then, what part of 'I'm not a mage' doesn't make sense to you?" Lanaura drawled as if explaining something to a small and particularly stupid child.

Wynne puffed up indignantly. "You used blood as a medium for _magic! _Plain as day!"

"No I didn't! I can't do magic, I'm _not a mage! _I _work_ for a living thank you very much. That's what we have you here for after all."

A gasp from out of her line of sight pulled the healer's attention away from her righteous indignation. "The sickness…. It's gone!" Marethari gasped.

Lanaura could hear the shuffle as Kallian moved over to the stricken elf's side. "No…" Kallian whispered. "No it's not. It's receded, but the taint is still there. Whatever Lanaura did, it wasn't quite enough."

"Hey Keeper? Does Mahariel know her way around a bow?" Lanaura interrupted.

"Yes in fact she does. She's our best hunter." Lanaura could hear the question in Marethari's tone.

"Oh good. Kallian, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I might just be."

"Would you mind clarifying for the old elf in the room?" Marethari stuck her oar in.

"She's still tainted." Kallian began, her tone deadly serious. "We have a way to cure it, mostly. But that involves becoming one of us. Becoming a Grey Warden. She will live, but she might not ever return."

Lanaura heard a small thump, as if Marethari had dropped wearily into a chair. After a moment Marethari replied, bone crushing weariness in her voice. "There is no other way?"

"None." Kallian solemnly stated.

"Then we have no choice do we. I thank you for coming when you did. Mahariel would not have survived without you. By any chance, did you find another? She left with another of our clan, Tamlen."

"No one else Keeper. I literally tripped over this one." Lanaura called from her spot still on her back. "And besides, if he was with her, he's probably bad off. And I can't call on the Narru's gift again for a while. He's probably dead, or very soon to be."

Talking turned out to be a mistake. Because it turned Wynne's attention back to her. "That's a good point. If not blood magic, then what exactly did you do? What _is_ this… 'gift?' This had better be good." She demanded, still pressing her staff into Lanaura's face.

"Whoa. Ok, sensing some srs hate for this 'blood magic' stuff. Alright, so skipping a long backstory because I'm too tired to bother, every Draenei has a small supply of healing Light that we can use. Us adventurers don't usually bother, we got healers coming out the wazoo. But it's still there in case of emergency. Like this one."

Wynne's frown wasn't a good omen. "Nothing good comes of a blood sacrifice."

"What blood sacrifice? My gift is keyed to my blood. I needed direct access to hers so I could channel my Gift to her. The Gift of the Nar'ru is not a regular healing spell, you can't cast it on others like Priests or Shaman can. I had to improvise, and it worked. The Light is _pure._ The Light is _good._ You have nothing to worry about, even though I have no idea why you dislike this 'blood magic' so much."

"I still don't think-"

"Enough!" Kallian interrupted the elder mage. "Wynne, whatever she did worked, I'm happy enough with that. And I didn't think I'd need to remind you that this is _Lanaura_ we are talking about here. She just _does_ things. Our world's ideas and concepts just don't apply sometimes."

"A source of much hilarity to myself if I might just add."

"Shut up Lan. Wynne, she helped. Leave it at that."

Wynne looked conflicted, but ultimately backed down. "Very well. You are of course correct. I am sorry Lanaura, I shouldn't have doubted you." She apologized, removing her threatening staff.

"Hey, no problem. Now, if you don't mind ima sleep now. That always takes it out of me."

As soon as those very words had passed her lips, she succumbed to exhaustion and passed out. And then, began snoring. Loudly.

The Warden, Mage and Elf just stared at her for a few seconds in silence. None were quite sure what to say.

"Is that… Normal… for her?" Marethari hesitantly queried.

Resisting the oh so very tempting urge to face palm Kallian spoke. "Unfortunately, we have absolutely no idea what _normal_ means for her. We're just along for the ride it seems." Kallian sighed. "Now, Keeper. I am afraid we have much to discuss…"

* * *

When Lanaura came to the Aravel was bathed in the dark of night, a single small torch the only source of illumination.

Then she realized she was still on the dirt floor. None of her friends had thought that maybe moving her might be nice of them. Nah, just leave her there, she'll be 'aight. Not like she has _feelings_ or anything.

Then again, she was pretty tall woman, wearing a lot of heavy armour. Come to think of it, could any of them sans Sten even lift her? Could _Sten_ even lift her?

Deciding the answer was probably no, she managed to lever herself up and to her feet with only a few grunts of protest. Then her eyes fell upon the small figure covered in blankets she had worked so hard to save.

She looked pretty peaceful in the flickering torchlight, a far cry from how tortured she had seemed in the grip of the Taint. Lanaura knew full well that the Taint was still there, hiding beneath the surface, but with a bit of luck that wouldn't be a problem much longer.

She had to admit the Elf woman was very cute. Having only gotten a good look at two Elves so far she couldn't help but draw comparisons between this woman and her Leader. They both had the pointed ears and angular facial structure of this world's Elves, features sharp as a knife edge. Although, this one's features were a bit softer than Kallian's.

Her most obvious feature was the intricate facial tattoos that stood out against her tanned skin. One long design that spread across her forehead and dipped slightly between her brows, one on each cheek that started from under her eye and flowed downward, and two branches underneath her lips. All perfectly symmetrical and rather alluring if Lanaura had to say.

Her hair was a nondescript light brown, pulled into a low ponytail as opposed to Kallian's short and spikey auburn. Her eyes, upon Lanaura's shameless investigation via lifting her eyelid, were a cool brown as opposed to Kallian's bright green.

A quick glance at muscular structure and the woman's calloused palm spoke of long hours training, probably with blade in hand as opposed to bow, despite Marethari's claims.

Interesting… She wasn't built like Kallian. Kallian was lithe, thin and flexible. Perfect for her chosen fighting style of dual light blades and fast strikes. Mahariel here was built like a Warrior, much more defined muscles.

From what she'd seen upon landing, none of the rest of the clan wore plate armour, but there were some heavy chain amongst all the leather and hide. Mahariel had been stripped of her Tainted chainmail during Lanaura's nap it seemed.

_Perfect!_ Lanaura mentally cheered. More frontline fighters were never a bad thing.

Suddenly, Mahariel groaned and shifted restlessly under Lanaura's scrutiny. Surprised, Lan stepped backwards to wait, just in case. After a couple moments of pained tossing and muttering Mahariel let loose a strangled scream and shot up, gasping for breath.

"Woah, woah, woah. Easy now, easy!" Lanaura was instantly at her side, gently pressing her back down. "You're ok, you hear me? You're ok."

Still trying to find her breath and not really seeing the Draenei, which saved some questions for the moment at least. She glanced around the Aravel. "Where… Where am I?" She murmured.

"You're back at your camp. When we found you, you were very sick. You had us very worried for a while there."

"My camp… Wait, who…?" Mahariel at last looked at who she was speaking to. "Dread Wolf what _are_ you!" She shouted in surprise, managing to fall out of bed in her shock.

"Woah there feisty-pants. You all right?" Lanaura moved over to help her, only to have her hand slapped away.

"I'm fine! And you didn't answer my question! Who are you?" She demanded.

"Eh, no skin off of my tail." Lanaura shrugged. She sat down and relaxed on Mahariel's now vacant bed, levelling her gaze at the elf. "My name is Lanaura, Champion of the Frozen Wastes and Grey Warden. And _that_ is one wicked scar. How'd you get it?"

The Dalish's eyes shot downwards, belatedly coming to the realization that she was in nothing but her smallclothes. Now the normal reaction to this would be to try to cover up, demand the viewer turn around, anything.

This particular Elf however didn't even blink, just traced a hand down the long, thick scar that started at her collarbone and trailed to the middle of her right side, dipping under the fabric of the woman's breast band as it did so.

"This? Shemlen bandits when I was six. Big bugger with a great sword. This one…" She pointed out another, smaller scar on her left side Lanaura hadn't noticed. "Another bandit attack, a few years ago. Thought I'd try and help. Didn't end up being much use, I could hardly hold a sword."

She turned her back on the Draenei, flicking a thumb over her shoulder. "Two arrow punctures below my right shoulder. Got them saving a kid from Tevinter shem three years ago."

Lanaura paused in her casual admiring of the Elvish woman's lovely shape silhouetted against the torchlight. "I'm sorry, Shemlen, shem?"

"Humans." The girl spat, her voice hard. "But you never did answer my question. What exactly _are_ you?" She continued in a far more amicable tone.

"Introduce yourself and I will do the same." Lanaura said with a laugh.

"Hm." Mahariel grunted. "Fine. Tia Mahariel, Hunter of the Sabrae Dalish clan."

"Lovely to meet you. Once again I'm Lanaura, and I'm a Draenei."

"Never heard of it."

"Didn't expect you to. But it doesn't really matter. How are you feeling?"

Tia paused, and seemed to give herself a once over. Standing up she stretched her arms over her head and tilted side to side, testing the elasticity of her muscles by stretching them thoroughly.

The sound of an appreciative whistle from behind her drew Tia back to earth. Turning back around to look at Lanaura, who was staring at her with an interested eyebrow raised.

"You realize the show you're giving me, don't you? If so, don't stop. It's great." The Draenei woman answered her silent question.

Tia just shrugged. "Eh, look if you want I don't care. Anyway, why do you care what I feel like?"

"Well, when we found you in that cave you were close to dead. Glad to see you were feeling better."

A dark expression flashed across her face. "That cave… I _told_ Tamlen leave the blasted mirror alone but _noooo_, he just_ had_ to touch it. Stupid bighting…" She trailed off. "Where is he anyway? He any better?"

Lanaura flinched. "About that. We didn't find anyone else. Just you." She nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

"What! But he… We have to find him, now!"

"No way feisty-pants! There isn't anything you can do right now anyway."

"She's right _da'len._" A familiar voice interrupted. Keeper Marethari strode regally into the Aravel and her eyes alit on Lanaura. "Ah, Warden. It is good to see you awake. And you as well Tia, you had us worried these last days."

"Wait, days? How long have we been out?" Lanaura questioned.

"Two days, Warden."

Lanaura flinched. "Wow, using the Gift never wiped me out _that_ bad before."

Marethari nodded. "Speaking of that, I haven't yet thanked you for saving my clansmen's life yet. _Ma serannas, _GreyWarden. The Sabrae Clan are in your debt."

Lanaura shifted in embarrassment. "_Kalason'edos, _Keeper. _Tiel octethi… _err, It was nothing."

"It was hardly nothing-"

"Yea, yea, this is nice and all." Tia angrily interrupted. "But what part of _Tamlen is missing_ do we not understand here! We need to be out looking for him _now!_"

"Enough _da'len!_ You have been asleep for days and if it weren't for the Warden's miracle you would be dead! You still need rest. Not only that, but it is the middle of the night, searching now would be fruitless. You may begin your search in the morning, and not a moment before!" Marethari laid down the law.

Tia was _not_ happy with that, it showed on her face plain as day. "_Ma nuvenin_ Keeper. As much as I dislike it." She grumbled after a moment.

"_Ma serannas lethallan. _In the morning the Wardens will go with you back to the cave. I'd have sent Merrill with you…"

"But she's with Keeper Zathrian's clan right now. Not like I'd forget…" Tia trailed off into a mutter.

"I know you miss your friend _da'len,_ but she is where she needs to be. I miss her as well you know…"

* * *

Lanaura slipped out of the aravel as Marethari started her own debrief about the ruins in the cave. The large clearing where the Sabrae were currently making their home was lit only by the light of a large bonfire in the middle of camp and the full moon above. Surrounding that fire was what seemed to be the majority of the clan, partaking in their evening meals and simply relaxing after a no doubt long day.

She was spotted straight away, and treated to a few happy cheers and some polite greetings. Clearly the story of what she had done to help save the life of one of their own had made its rounds already.

It was a far cry from being held at arrow-point at least.

But that was all pushed to the side when she realized what she'd forgotten to do. That was, dismiss the Griffon she'd flown here on.

The proud, majestic and splendid Snowy Griffon, the first flying mount that Lanaura had ever gained, looked so absolutely _done_ she couldn't help but giggle. If she had to guess, Snowdrop the Griffon was about 110% Done. The reason for that was the small crowd of children happily bouncing and playing on every inch of unhappy Griffon they could find. Clearly Griffon was more interesting than Draenei, because she was quite happily ignored by the youngsters.

He lay on his stomach, his Eagle head resting on his Lion's paws as he just let the bickering, babbling bubbly broodlings bounce boisterously on and around him. Luckily, Snowdrop liked children. Well, more than he liked anyone else at least. He wasn't a very sociable bird-lion thing.

It didn't take long for the harried griffon to notice his mistresses' presence. His eyes narrowed in accusation as he shot her a heated glare. The message was quite clear. "_You did this on purpose, didn't you…?" _

Lanaura's giggling was promoted into full blown, hand on stomach hysterics. This was not by any means planned, but having seen what had happened it was _so_ worth it.

Snowdrop exasperatedly rolled his eyes and let her laugh at him for a while. Eventually, he tired of her joy and squawked exasperatedly at her. The children all screamed at his sudden noise and tumbled off his back. Not that that stopped them, they just laughed harder and climbed back up.

But the squawk had done its job. Lanaura hustled her way over, still laughing. She dropped to her knees beside his beautiful plumed head and lightly stroked the feathers behind his ear, just the way he liked it. "Oh look at you, getting soft in your old age huh?"

Snowdrop's irritated grumble of a squawk was her reply. But he didn't stop her stroking.

"Haha, I know you old geezer, I know. I'll be back in a bit, just got to find the others. Bai!"

Quick as a flash she was on her feet and out of snapping range. She started walking away, desperately trying to supress her laughter (failing miserably) as Snowdrop's squawk full of betrayal followed her.

Lanaura cast her eye around camp, but to her dismay was unable to locate any of her party. Just elves, elves, elves, mage, elves… Wait, mage?

She smiled brightly as she focused on the mage in question. Sat a few meters out of the firelight and propped against a tree, Elsa Amell seemed deep in thought, deep enough to have missed her fellow Warden's enthusiastic greeting. Upon reflection, it was exactly where Elsa liked to be. Out of sight and out of mind. Well, she wasn't going to let that stand much longer. _No one_ was sad around the jovial warrior if she had her way about it. Depressing was so a couple centuries ago.

Lanaura would know. She lived it.

The fact that Lanaura desperately wanted to get into the shy girl's pants had nothing to do with it of course.

Instead of taking her usual route of popping out of nowhere and scaring the Light out of people when they didn't notice her, Lanaura strode slowly over, making no effort to hide her movements. Even that wasn't enough it seemed. Lanaura managed to make her way over and stand beside the woman without her realizing.

It wasn't until Lanaura leaned down and placed a light hand on her shoulder did Elsa stir. She jumped slightly at the unexpected contact, her gaze shooting up to come face to face with Lanaura's own softly smiling visage.

"Heya Snowflake. Copper for your thoughts?" She asked with a small smile.

"Lanaura! You're awake!" Elsa gasped softly.

"Eh, you know me. Nothing keeps me down for long." Lanaura replied with a small shrug and a laugh. She eased her armoured body down against the same tree with a small sigh. "I'll ask it again, copper for your thoughts?"

Sat at right angles meant that Lanaura couldn't see Elsa stiffen, couldn't see her face set in a hard line. But she could _feel_ it.

Lanaura let the silence hang for a few moments, giving Elsa a chance to reply if she wanted to. "It's all right, you don't have to tell me. It just seemed…"

"No!" Elsa interrupted. "No, it's fine. It's just… Not an easy subject."

It really wasn't. Elsa hadn't told anyone about this for years. Maybe it was the veil of darkness she hid herself in like a cloak that made her feel safe. Maybe it was the fact that she couldn't see the other woman's face. Maybe it was because even with all her teasing, her flirting and her mad tendencies, Elsa actually trusted the Draenei. But whatever it was, the words managed to escape her lips at last.

"I was… Thinking about my sister." She hesitantly explained.

"Oh? You have a sister?"

"Yes I do. She's younger than me by a little. But I haven't seen her in… over ten years now." She trailed off sadly.

"That long? Relationship problems?"

"No, it's nothing like that. We were so close as children, she was my best friend. I still miss her dearly."

Lanaura sensed a tale to be told. "Why not anymore?" She carefully and softly prodded.

Elsa opened her mouth to reply, but the words just seemed to stick in her throat. Whatever courage she found deserted her.

Luckily, Lanaura backed off. "Hey, its Ok. It's clearly not something you're happy with. You don't need to tell me right now."

The other woman shifted until she was sat next to the mage and draped an easy arm over her shoulder. "But if you ever need to talk, or need someone to help you I'll be there if you want me. Swear by the Light." She promised.

Elsa stiffened at the familiar arm, unused to casual touching as she was. She fought the unease and relaxed slightly. "I appreciate that Lanaura. Thank you."

Lanaura groaned unexpectedly. "What have I told you about that? Lan, Lana, Lanny, Lanfill, Lanrar, Light, anything! Anything but my full name. I'd think we were better friends than that, huh? If I give you a cute nickname like Snowflake, you have to be a little more familiar! I mean c'mon, I got Kalli doing it!"

Lanaura hesitated, and then she grimaced. "Actually, scratch Lanfill off that list. Let's not go with that."

Elsa couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up readily at Lanaura's antics. "Very well." She laughed. "I shall try, Lana."

The blue woman flashed a thumbs up. "Great!" She happily exclaimed.

Something Lanaura said came back into her mind. "Wait, why was 'Light' included in that list?" She questioned.

Elsa could feel the massive smirk on Lanaura's face. It did not bode well.

"Oh you know. As in "_Oh Light! Oh don't stop, don't stop!_" She moaned suggestively.

Instantly Elsa shoved the Draenei away from her, a hot blush already staining her features. "Ugh, you're incorrigible you know that!" She berated, but the small smile on her face and laugh in her tone told a different story.

Lanaura burst out laughing, falling easily to her side. But her lewd joke had done its job and lifted Elsa out of her funk, or so it seemed.

They sat in an easy silence for a little while, watching her tortured Griffon being used as a jungle gym.

"Alistair was very put out with you the first day you know." Elsa suddenly spoke.

"Oh? Whatever for?"

"Well, apparently the Grey Wardens used to ride Griffons, but they went extinct centuries ago. The fact you had one up your sleeve and didn't tell him made him quite pouty. Oh, and when he tried to touch it, it bit him."

Lanaura burst out laughing yet again at the mental image of a starstruck Alistair being brought straight back to earth by jaded Lion-bird. Even Elsa couldn't help but laugh in that quiet way of hers.

"Oh Light that's perfect. Yea, Snowdrop isn't exactly the most… huggable of Griffon. I've had him for so long now I can't even remember the day I got him. I do remember him knocking me over though. Bastard bird…" She trailed away into a grumble, but the affection she had for her trusty Snowdrop was quite clear.

* * *

They left it at that for a few minutes. They just watched the camp go about their night, Lanaura trying to avoid meeting the betrayed glances Snowdrop kept sending her way.

"I'm guessing the others are back at the cave?" Lanaura suddenly asked.

Elsa jumped slightly. "Oh, right. Yes, they are. They went back to investigate a few hours after you… did whatever you did. Now that you're awake, we can join them tomorrow."

While she was explaining, Keeper Marethari stepped out of the aravel and joined the rest of the Clan around their campfire.

"Do we know what's to be done about Tia?" Lanaura asked, watching the entrance of the Aravel.

"Tia?"

"Tia Mahariel. The sick elf we found."

Elsa grimaced. "Kallian wants to make her a Warden."

"Yea I thought so. Now cmon, hop up. We've got an Elf to stop." Lanaura pushed herself to her feet and pulled Elsa up as well.

Slightly confused, Elsa had to ask. "What do you mean exactly?"

"Oh well, just before I left the Keeper explicitly forbade Tia from heading back to the Cave. A friend of hers and another elf, Tam-something went missing and she wanted to go find him. If I got a read on her properly, she should be slipping out that flap in 4, 3, 2, 1."

Right as the last number dropped from her lips, a small figure wrapped in a dark cloak stole out of the Aravel and quickly headed into the forest, doing their best not to be seen.

Elsa shot an incredulous look Lanaura's way. "How do you _do_ that?"

Lanaura's smug smile was her only response.

* * *

Psh. Not go after one of her best friends. Seriously, what exactly was Marethari _thinking_.

"As if. What does she think I am? A bloody Shemlen, lost in the dark?" Tia ranted in a mutter.

She was walking at a brisk pace through the dark forest in the vague direction of the ruins she and Tamlen had managed to find. Fortunately for her, Elves had much better vision in darkness than the rest of the races of Thedas had. She was confident that she could pick the trail up easy enough.

The corpses of the bandits she and Tamlen had… Taken care of… were going to be easy to find she was sure.

Her armor had been Tainted, or so Marethari had said. It had to be destroyed. So here she was in the leathers most of the clan favoured, borrowed _*Cough*_stolen_*Cough*_ from Marethari's aravel. A borrowed bow was held in her left hand, strung and ready for use.

This was another thing that had managed to piss her off. Not only her armor gone, her weapon was as well.

No Dalish was ever bad with a bow. Tia prided herself on being exceptional with one. But her true passion was the blade, the bigger the better. Her usual weapon was a great sword, and she was the only one in the Clan to use one.

But that meant she was self-taught. So she wasn't as good as she _could_ have been. But there was much to be said for long, long, _long_ hours of practice.

Half way through a rant about "poxy mirrors and stubborn fools who didn't listen" she stiffened. Something very odd registered in her sensitive elvish ears.

It sounded like a roar, like some wounded animal bellowing its pain. Without stopping. Wait, was that getting _louder?_

She turned in the direction of the horrible noise, already knocking an arrow to her bow. But she never got a chance to use it. A bright light hit her, dazzling her sharp eyes.

Wincing at the sudden ocular flash, she nearly didn't duck in time.

The roar reached a fever pitch, and then _something _huge and _metal_ burst from the tree line, flying through the air _right at her head!_

Tia didn't even manage to get a swear off before she had to drop to the ground as the metal monster roared through the space her cranium had oh so very shortly ago occupied. Swearing loudly, she pulled a dagger from her belt, intent on jumping to her feet and defending herself…

Only to be pinned by something massive and covered in armor.

"And_ where_ do you think _you_ are going?" A familiar accent breathed into her ear.

* * *

Lanaura had the flighty elf pinned, making very sure she wasn't just going to bail on them. "And _where_ do you think_ you_ are going?" She asked.

"Get the Void off me you halla-rutting, shem chasing blighter!" Her captive yelled back, trying her best to shift the much heavier woman.

Not exactly succeeding, but admirable nonetheless.

"Woah woah woah. Calm down Fiesty pants. It's just me." Lanaura tried to reason with the small woman.

Not exactly succeeding, but admirable nonetheless.

"And that changes something you flaming, pox ridden harpy? _Get off of me!_"

"Only when you promise to come back to camp. Oh, and not hurt me for this."

"You can stick your 'promise' up your arse!"

"Well it looks like we are at an impasse then."

"Lanaura…" The new voice cut in.

One word. One word was all it took. One word, so heavy with the weight of menacing promise, and terrible, _terrible_ cold from the much smaller Warden Mage. Lanaura stiffened, then gulped.

"Uh, yes dear?" Lanaura replied, with a nervous giggle.

She couldn't look. She couldn't look. It would be a _very_ bad idea for her to look. She could _feel_ the disappoint in the Mage's gaze as it bore into her back.

But, if she was anything like Lanaura's guild leader, the only other person who could glare like that, it was just better to take her lumps.

Ever, _ever_ so cautiously, she looked back over her shoulder at where she had left the bike, and the other rider.

Aaaaaand yep. Horrible idea.

The normally shy, reserved, sometimes skittish Warden Mage had her arms crossed, and a thunderous look on her face. So _this_ was the Elsa Amell that had taken on a bunch of demons single handed.

Her normally sparkling blue eyes had hardened to frozen glaciers, and carried the weight of one as well. Its message was clear. _Get. Off. Elf. _

Like _lightning_ Lanaura was on her feet and standing at perfect military attention. Tia meanwhile swore a few more times and managed to stagger to her feet.

Before pulling back her right hand and punching Lanaura in the face.

"What in Fen'Harel's name was _that_ all about you crazy goat bitch!" She yelled at the much taller woman. "You could have killed me! What gave you the blighting right to pull this crap huh? HUH!"

It was funny really. Lanaura hadn't been yelled at quite like this since basic with the Seventh Legion. Being reminded of Drill Sargent Harris in a positive light was a rare occurrence.

_I don't care if you've fucked the Lich King's face, or violated Yogg-Saron with his own tentacles, boot! Down and give me fifty!_

Fun times…

And while young Tia Mahariel had about a hundred pounds and thirty years experience down,the little elf had the bastard's voice down pat. Yup, the Feisty-Pants nickname was staying.

Eventualy, Mahariel ran out of steam. Another point to DS Harris. He could have kept that up for the rest of the night.

"Just what the hell was that about, huh?" She finished off.

Lan gave it a few seconds, waiting to see if she had permission to speak. At Elsa's gesture, she was free.

"Well, you leaving was a bad idea. So we had to stop you. I _miiiight_ have got just a _little_ overzealous._ Ein te neomeno, kotikei_." She explained, looking appropriately sheepish.

No longer having the energy to keep up her ranting, Tia kept her question short. "Just a little?"

Some retort or another that was forming on her lips died a speedy death as a very familiar prickling in the back of Lanaura's head started alarm bells.

She and Elsa both shot the other a look, and found conformation.

"Darkspawn!" Lanaura called, weapon and shield springing into her arms.

Elsa rushed over to them, slamming her staff into the ground. The bright red light of a magical flare shot from the tip straight into the air, coming to a halt just below the canopy.

"Yeesh. Monsters, Red light, night time? Like every monster movie _ever_." Lanaura casually remarked, as if they weren't about to fight the worst creatures this world had to face.

Just then, the rumble of rushing feet began to reach their ears. Ooooh shit. That was a _lot_ of feet.

A curse and the sound of a bow twanging from next to her, and the resulting high-pitched scream from the darkness drew her attention to their Dalish companion.

She was already knocking an arrow into place as they glanced at her. Eh, they said Elves had much better night vision. It wasn't much of a surprise that she could see, and thusly shoot, earlier than they could.

But after a couple seconds that didn't matter either way, as the Darkspawn made their appearance.

Spilling into the clearing in a massive group, screaming their unholy war cries they charged the much smaller group, clearly expecting a quick victory, if only through overwhelming numbers.

OH how wrong they were.

Time for seven foot tall blue _battering ram!_

Lanaura's voice filled the clearing as she let loose a truly titanic Battle Cry, roaring her challenge at the approaching Darkspawn. She slammed her blade against her shield and charged headlong at the Darkspawn group.

"Come at me motherfuckers! _Feta'vai akahachi!" _

She met the leading Hurlok at full tilt, slamming her shield into its chest at max speed. The force of the blow stunned the unholy creature, but the follow up flash of her Sabre finished it. The creature's head hadn't even hit the ground before Lanaura was on the next one, her enchanted sword cleaving through its crude blade and deep into tainted flesh at her downward strike.

The Bulwark of the Fallen General leapt up, blocking the battle axe of a random hurlok. She twisted, and pushed forward, casually bisecting the offending creature as she passed. Another took the edge of the Bulwark to the throat, crushing it's unholy windpipe.

The Darkspawn had truly surrounded her now, pressing down on all sides. The Enchanted Shao-Tien Sabre flashed time and time again as she cut down more and more of the Tainted beings, and the Bulwark blocked, struck and smashed a path through the creatures. There seemed to be no end to the press of bodies, the unrelenting attacks.

But to tell the truth, this kind of fight was when Lanaura came _alive! _

Another massive Battle cry, and Lanaura slammed her foot down so hard a shockwave of force blasted a large group of their feet. Instantly, she was amongst them as they tried to rise, cutting the defenceless monsters down.

So focused on her own fun times she was only vaguely aware of the storms and blasts of ice that were being flung at the Darkspawn that weren't falling over themselves in a mad rush to try and hack bits off of the strange new Alien woman decimating their ranks. Elsa was going to _town_ on these dirty blighters! I'd be hilarious to watch if it wouldn't mean a painful death.

She let loose a woop of pure joy as she charged another small group, cutting them down easy as you please with a massive smile on her face. Now _This_ was a fight!

Wait, her Tank senses were tingling! She shot her gaze over to the others, seeing them begin to get overrun. Armed only with a bow Tia's effectiveness was limited, and while Elsa was blowing them to pieces, forcing them back again and again, staff flying through the air spilling ice wherever it went, the press of numbers was beginning to get too much for her. _Oh heeeellll no! Not _my_ squishies! _

She slammed her shield into a Hurlok's chest, knocking him a few feet away and conveniently leaving a narrow avenue open. Without even caring where he ended up she immediately took off at a dead sprint towards her companions, refusing to be too slow.

* * *

These two were _insane!_

More Darkspawn than she could count rushing towards them, and the crazy blue bitch that had just finished nearly killing her _bellowed_ and charged them. When the 'spawn had swallowed her up she was sure the massive woman was a goner.

The fact the other woman, who she hadn't gotten a chance to really look at yet, was a Mage came in handy. Tia was quite certain the 'spawn would have overrun her if it weren't for the crazy stuff the mage was throwing out.

She'd seen Merrill cast before, they'd been attacked by bandits enough. But _this. _This was… Incredible! But she couldn't afford to be too distracted however, and simply kept pumping arrow after arrow into the 'spawn band.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. They just kept coming, and she was running out of arrows, and fast.

She jumped back out of range of a Genlok's swing, drawing a belt knife as she did so. The instant she landed she leapt forward again, slamming the blade into the 'spawn's throat.

It gurgled horribly, spilling black blood all over her palm. It fell backwards, dead as dead could be. Unfortunately, it took the Knife with it, lodged into something. Her slippery hands were unable to pull the blade from its new sheath in Darkspawn gullet, but trying to hold on pulled Tia off balance.

Leaving her dangerously upset, and watching in horror as a new 'spawn's hammer arced downward directly at her head.

And suddenly, there was a shield in front of her face.

The hammer crashed against Lanaura's shield and was knocked aside, hitting dirt instead of pretty elf. The Shao-Tien Sabre flashed and it's head hit the ground soon straight after it.

She didn't ask if Tia was alright, thusly not giving Tia a chance to hotly declare she was like she wanted to. Instead, the Warden pressed her own weapons into Tia's hands.

Blinking in surprise, she took the sword and board, surprised by just how _right_ they felt in her hands, even though she typically used a two handed blade.

But that didn't matter. She would be far more useful in this melee with a blade than a bow.

Nodding her thanks she turned back to the Darkspawn, the mage having kept them at bay while all this was happening. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Warden pull another weapon out of her… somewhere. She caught a glimpse of a blade of red and gold, and an odd golden disk before the Spawn were on them again.

The fight dragged on for a few more minutes. Through it all the three were pressed back to back, beset on all sides by foul creatures. But they stood tall, blades flashing and magic spewing forth again and again and again.

But, all good things must come to an end. At long last, the last foul creature's face met dirt with a distinctly satisfying thud. Seventy five corpses, more or less, filled the forest around them.

"Awww. It's over already?"

Tia glanced over her shoulder at the massive blue woman, the odd blade she had pulled from… somewhere having already vanished.

Odd, but not important right now.

"Whew, that was a _fight _huh? Wohoo! You were awesome Elsa! You could outdo a Siege geared Frost Mage with a little more work! And you, Tia! You have _potential!_ I just can't wait to start training ya!" The big blue woman gushed, grabbing the elf by the shoulders, a wide nearly manic smile on her admittedly rather good looking face.

_Wait, _what!

"_Buttt_ that dosen't matter right now. We should be heading back to your clan Feisty-Pants. You're going to be dropping like a lead weight in a few seconds."

Tia just blinked at her. She felt fine, better than fine in fact. Adrenaline was still pumping through her system like wildfire. Why would she…

A sudden, terrible thought crossed her mind. Tia let off a strangled gasp. "The clan! Those Darkspawn! They aren't safe!"

"Woah there girl, calm down. It's fine." Lanaura tried to ease the elf woman.

She was having none of it however. "What the hell do you mean _its fine_! Who knows how many of those things are in these woods! They could be-"

Her tirade was cut sharply off via Draenei palm slapping over her mouth. It took a split second for Tia to process the sheer audacity of the other woman, and glared daggers over the blue hand.

"It's fine. Those 'spawn came from the wrong direction, and were heading in the wrong direction. They would have missed the camp by several miles. We are pretty far south right now, it was probably a particularly large scouting band. And in the direction they were headed… I think we just saved the others a lot of trouble Elsa. They were headed in the Cave's direction."

The Draenei's attention focused on the last of their little group. Tia's own attention was drawn to the beautiful human woman…

Wait, HUMAN!

Tia snarled behind Lanaura's hand, immediately lashing out. Unfortunately for her, Lanaura was one _fast_ blue bitch. She had her arm locked behind her back so fast it made Tia's head spin.

Or, that might have been the culminated effects of the last few days hitting her at last. Who knows.

"What the void are you doing Fiesty-Pants!" Lanaura demanded.

"What is _that_ doing here? Do you know what she is!" Tia angrily shot back.

Elsa herself shrank back slightly, unsure what she had done or what to do.

"Yes, I do." Lanaura growled. "The question is, what is your _problem_?!"

"She's a blighting _shemlen_ that's my problem! They're bad news! Nothing good ever comes from their spirit-damned kind!"

Lanaura stilled very quickly. Her grip on Tia's arm tightened considerably.

Elsa couldn't help but fall back a step. The expression on the usually bright Draenei's face was… terrifying. Her stare was stabbing white hot knives at Tia's head.

She gave Tia's arm a quick twist, just enough to have the much smaller woman grunt. She leaned down and put her face next to Tia's pain twisted own.

"I'm going to tell you something and you are going to listen. I've been to a lot of places in this universe. I've lived a _long_ time now kid. And guess what. The humans happen to be one of the most honourable races I've ever known. They and the Alliance are the only reason the Draenei still exist.

Now I remember your scars, and how you got them. Maybe you _have_ had nothing but bad experiences with Humanity. Light knows I've killed enough of them myself. But Elsa here just spent void knows how long keeping your tiny ass alive in that last fight. Elsa, Alistair, Wynne, Morrigan and Leliana, our human companions, are quite frankly some of the best people I've ever met.

Now they may not be easy to get along with. Light, Morrigan is a_ bitch_ sometimes. But they are good people and I will _not_ have you assaulting them. Now I'm going to let you go, you are going to apologise to this _Grey Warden_ you just attacked. Then, we go back to your clan and you can keep believing whatever you want to believe about whoever you want. Just don't spill your ignorance infront of me again. Are we clear?"

Tia just swore at her.

Lanaura twisted her arm again, harder this time. "Are. We. Clear?"

Tia bit back a curse. "Dread wolf-Fine! Just let go of me dammit!"

Lanaura dropped her arms, letting the much smaller elf woman free to shake herself off. Grumbling,elf managed to mutter something vaguely like an apology at the Mage before turning on her heel and stomping back in the direction of her camp.

Lanaura and Elsa let her stride away for a little while, both lost in their own thoughts. But eventually they sobered enough to climb back aboard the chopper.

Elsa wrapped her arms around Lanaura's waist like always. She paused for a moment and just before the Chopper kicked into life she spoke.

"Thank you, Lana. I never expected that. You don't learn much of the outside world at the Circle."

Lanaura paused for a moment, casting a glance over her shoulder at the Mage. "That's where the others found you right? You will have to tell me about life there sometime. And don't worry. I just hope she can work with us until the Archdeamon is dead. After that, it's up to Kallian. But, the fact that we follow an Elf instead of say, Alistair, might smooth things a bit. She's a firecracker, she's a good woman underneath."

Elsa had nothing to say to that. So, Lanaura kicked the Chopper into gear and raced off after their wayward Elf.

It didn't take long for them to find her again, still muttering to herself under her breath. Lanaura pulled up beside the fuming woman.

Then, she flicked a previously unused switch on her handlebars. From behind Elsa's foot a hidden compartment shot out a few feet before shifting and slotting together automatically.

When the moving stopped the Chopper had its sidecar out and ready to go.

"Get in." Lanaura said to the Dalish woman.

Tia just shot her a filthy glare.

"C'mon. It's easier than walking and much faster. The quicker we get back the quicker we can warn your Keeper." Lanaura patiently explained.

Tia shot her another angry glare, before relenting to the sheer un-Lanauralike logic and hopping comfortably into the convenient sidecar.

It was only five minutes later that Elsa found her voice.

"Wait, So I've been sat behind you for hours every day for the last _week_. And I could have been riding in that thing the _entire time_!"

Lanaura gulped.

"Ehehe…"

* * *

Translations –

_Kalason'edos, - You're Welcome. _

_Tiel octethi – It was nothing._

_Ein te neomeno, kotikei – I'm sorry, elf._


End file.
